High standard of hygiene is the number one measure of keeping Corona virus disease at bay even as people employ containment measures, the Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), Dr. Rashid Aman has said.
Speaking when giving the status of the COVID 19 in the country on Monday , the CAS noted that although most people have complied with the washing hands culture, there are those who have and therefore should embrace it immediately in order to curtail the spread of the virus and also other infectious diseases.
“Data shows that 29,538 which is 98 percent of the 30,120 confirmed cases of COVID 19 are local transmissions and this means that the virus is fully domiciled within our people in villages, estates , counties and the entire Country since all the 47 counties are affected”, he said .
Dr. Rashid explained that Nairobi and Mombasa counties have continued to have the highest attack rates of COVID 19 at 406.8 and 184.1 per 100,000 population respectively compared to the national average of 63.3.
However, he noted that as of yesterday, Kiambu had overtaken Mombasa to take over position two in the number of confirmed cases by recording 2,228 while Mombasa now is at number 3 with 2,224.
Nairobi continues to lead with the highest confi9rmed cases with 17,889 while the lowest counties are Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot which have 6 cases each respectively.
“Hand washing must be performed at every point and any moment after touching someone, surfaces made of copper, cardboard, plastics and stainless-steel . You must also wash yore hands after touching door handles, elevator doors and buttons after removing masks”, Dr. Rashid said.
Turning to COVID 19 statistics, the CAS said that today 245 people tested positive after 3,150 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.
This now brings the total number of positive cases to 30,365 and pushing cumulative tests to 394,566.
From the cases today, 237 are Kenyans while 8 are foreigners, 145 are male and 100 females while the youngest case is an 8 month old infant while the oldest is 79.
Nairobi still leads with 149 cases followed by Kiambu 23, Kajiado 14, Mombasa 10, Garissa and Machakos have 9 caases each while Nyeri and Narok have 7 cases each.
Busia has 4 cases followed by Kilifi with 3 cases , Laikipia, Murang’a and Kitui have 2 cases each while Kisumu, Uasin Gishu, Kwale and Tharaka Nithi have recorded 1 case each.
Dr. Rashid said that today 504 patients have been recovered from the disease, 461 from home based care programme while 43 have been discharged from various hospitals bringing the total number of recoveries to 17,160
Sadly , the CAS added that the country has lost 8 patients to the disease, 5 of which had underlying issues. This now brings the total fatality to 482.
Dr. Patrick Amoth, the Ag. Director General, Ministry of Health said so far the 300 bed isolation capacity for counties that was agreed upon has seen 70 percent of counties meeting the minimum requirements.
On flattening the curve, the DG said this varies from county giving an example of now Mombasa which has seen decline of cases while Nairobi and Kiambu are on a high trajectory.
“Going forward we will deploy different interventions for different modes of transmission such as those of Nairobi will be different from a county like the Elgeyo Marakwet where cases are still low”, Dr. Amoth said.
Meanwhile, residents of Kamenya location in Ndhiwa Constituency have decried the poor state of Ponge dispensary which serves the local community.
The residents fear that the facility could close any time due to lack of medical staff, electricity, water and sanitary facilities.
They noted that Ponge dispensary which was started in 2000 by the late area Member of Parliament, Joshua Orwa Ojode has only one nurse who has served in the facility for many years.
Led by the facility’s Board of Management Chairperson, Tobias Owuor the they decried poor medical services rendered to the patients who seek services from the facility.
They said electricity to the facility was disconnected by Kenya Power in 2017 over unpaid bills and has not been re-connected to date.
Owuor said that lack of electricity was forcing expectant mothers to carry with them pieces of candles for lighting whenever they went to deliver at the facility.
Speaking to the press on Monday, the Chairperson said that lack of medical staff has overburdened the only serving nurse.
“One nurse cannot serve all the patients who seek medical assistance from the facility for various ailments,” he said.
He called on the County government of Homa-Bay to consider posting more medical staff immediately to enhance health care services.
Owuor said apart from lack of staff and electric power, the facility is also suffering from perennial shortage of water forcing the patients to source water from local vendors.
He said the dispensary solely relied on rain water which was seasonal, while patients relied on vendors who supply raw water from the river using donkeys.
The Chairperson said that the facility which serves more than 6,700 households is now over stretched after the neighbouring Pala Health Centre was converted to a COVID-19 isolation centre and the patients seeking services from the facility referred to the neighbouring facilities, including the Ponge facility.
By Wangari Ndirangu/Davis Langat
