Kenyans have been asked to be responsible especially on the intercounty spread of corona virus now that the President yesterday opened movements of Counties.
The Health Cabinet Secretary (CS), Mutahi Kagwe said the Covid 19 war requires each and everyone to assume active responsibility of becoming conscious not only of his own safety and that of family and others around them.
“As the President said, we must be each other’s keeper and with the easing of restrictions, we can no longer look up to the police to enforce adherence of containment measures. Any slightest imagination of this is a recipe for disaster”, he said
The CS warned that we all have a choice as individuals not to enter a crowded place knowing one can get Covid, not to enter a crowded market place , bus or matatu and even now not to visit ones folks or mother without a mask , sanitizer or even soap knowing very well you can kill her”.
“We opened up not because we have eradicated the disease but we are convinced that Kenyans are responsible enough to carry out economic activities while protecting their families”, Kagwe said
The CS who was speaking at Afya House on Tuesday giving the updates on Covid 19 and at the same time receiving the Final Report from the Taskforce on Mental Health , noted that soon the country will be overwhelmed by the disease and thus it was important for counties to be ready.
As far as preparations of the counties are concerned, and some through their governors have made progress, this is a period of great test for the conception of devolution and despite having worked well in some counties we are also seeing some mere failures in other countries.
“I want to appeal for the leaderships to up the level of preparedness in those counties since its likely that every county will have a Covid case and this behooves each one to just get a grip and be ready as there will be no lifting of people from Counties to Nairobi for treatment”, he said, adding that in a while Nairobi will be overwhelmed
On the COVID-19 statistics, today the CS noted that 183 people have tested positive to the disease from a sample of 2,061 in the last 24 hours bringing the total tally to 8,250.
Of the new cases, 177 are Kenyans while six are foreigners and the young est patient is four years old and the oldest is 79.“The Total sample tested in the country is 193,455. Today we have discharged 90 patients from the health faciltiies bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,504, while we have lost 3 patients to the disease bringing our total fatality to 167”, the CS said.
The distribution of the positive cases by counties is that Nairobi has 100 cases followed by Machakos 37, Kiambu 14, Mombasa 13, Kajiado 11, Nakuru 5, and Busia 3.
The distribution of the cases by sub counties is Nairobi, the 100 cases are in; Westlands (30), Kibra (20), Dagoretti North (17), Langata (8), Embakasi East, Embakasi South, Starehe, and Makadara have (5) cases each, while Kamukunji, Roysambu and Ruaraka have (2) cases each and Embakasi North (1). In Machakos the 37 cases are in, Athi River (35), Masinga and Yatta one (1) case each. In Kiambu the 14 cases are in Lari (6), Kabete (3), Kikuyu (2), Juja, Kiambu Town and Ruiru one (1) case each. In Mombasa, the 13 cases are in; Mvita (6), Kisauni (4), Likoni (2), and Nyali (1).
In Kajiado the 11 cases are in, Kajiado Central (5), Kajiado North (3), Kajiado West (2), and Kajiado East (1). In Nakuru the 5 cases are in Nakuru West (3), Molo and Gilgil one (1) case each while in Busia the 3 cases are’ in Teso South (2) and Matayos (1).
During this new phase that we have started in the fight against Corona virus disease, Kagwe made a special appeal to all people to exercise individual responsibility, so that we can curtail the spread of this virus.
By Wangari Ndirangu
