Siaya County is yet to conduct mass testing for coronavirus, area governor, Cornel Rasanga has said.
Rasanga said that contrary to media reports, the county government, in conjunction with Kisumu based Centre for Disease Control (CDC), was conducting Covid-19 tests for its health workers.
He was speaking at his Segere village home in Siaya when he received a sanitation booth and water tank from the Safaricom Foundation and Scope International.
Rasanga said the sanitation booth will be mounted at Luanda Kotieno beach, one of the busiest ports in Lake Victoria.
The governor called on the media to report Coronavirus matters factually to avoid causing anxiety in the society.
“When we introduce mass testing, we shall inform Siaya residents. It will not be done secretly,” he said.
He said that not even the entire health staff will be covered by the ongoing tests due to the limited number of kits.
“CDC received 700 kits and they decided to test our staff. We have about 2000 health and sanitation staff and when we test them it does not amount to mass testing,” he said.
Rasanga further refuted claims of lack of personal protective equipment for the health workers. He said that the county’s frontline staff has been issued with PPEs.
During the occasion, the governor also received sanitary towels and face mask donations from the Kenya Red Cross Society.
He said that the donations will be distributed to flood victims who were displaced from their homes by River Nzoia floods.
By Philip Onyango
