The Kwale County government has announced disinfection against Covid 19 in markets, bus parks, hotels and shopping centres.
The county will also scale down on many areas of service delivery and offer only the essential ones.
Area Governor Salim Mvurya who announced the measures contends it is part of efforts to fight the pandemic and also rid public spaces of bacteria and viruses.
He said other places which would also be covered were public parks, funeral grounds, public toilets and county and national government offices.
“The most important prevention is the individual themselves. Police officers cannot be everywhere to make sure people wear masks, keep social distance or wash hands. It is you as an individual to take first care of yourself even though the county will do everything to fulfill its obligation,” said the governor.
Mvurya told the press on Sunday that the large scale disinfection exercise will make public spaces safe for trading and other activities.
He ruled out the closing down of markets as happened during past similar exercises but said that after disinfection traders could go back and resume operation.
The county undertook a similar exercise in April and May which saw the disinfection, fumigation and clean-up of public places and public service vehicles.
The Governor who was accompanied by his deputy Fatuma Achani and area County Commissioner (CC) Karuku Ngumo said the disinfection exercise would be carried out regularly to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We hope the disinfection campaign to be spearheaded by the public health department will go a long way in reducing the number of Covid-19 cases in the region” said Mvurya who co-chairs the county covid-19 emergency response committee with the County Commissioner.
The governor also called for support from all quarters to ensure that the exercise was successfully carried out.
He also pointed out that the county public health department will intensify sensitization campaigns on the pandemic at the grassroots level.
“We need the support of each and every one and strictly adhere to the Covid-19 safety protocols if we are to defeat this deadly virus,” said Mvurya.
The governor said that in the past three days Kwale has reported 53 cases of Covid-19 infections. “In the past three days two people have also succumbed to the virus bringing the total cases of death to four in the past two weeks,” he said, while stressing on the need for a concerted effort to fight the highly infectious disease.
On his part, Ngumo appealed to area residents to comply with all the health instructions such as hand washing, physical distancing and wearing facemasks which were aimed at managing the spread of the virus among the populace.
The county commissioner revealed that last week several bars were closed indefinitely and over 200 people arrested for violating Covid-19 health protocols.
Ngumo reiterated that security agencies and the county enforcement teams will continue to vigorously enforce Covid-19 protocols and urged the public to strictly observe the measures established by the authorities to stop the Covid-19 pandemic.
By Hussein Abdullahi
