Kirinyaga County Government has stepped up corona virus prevention to ensure that the virus does not spread to the county.
Washing hands with water and soap being one of the first line protection measures against the virus spread, the county government has established hand washing points in all the major markets and bus stations such as Kagio, Kagumo, Kerugoya, Kutus, Wang’uru, Makutano, Kianyaga and Sagana
The county government has ensured that there is running tap water and portable refillable hand-washing water dispensers strategically placed at those points.
Speaking at Kerugoya County Referral Hospital where she received sanitizers and other equipment for use in the public health facilities, the County Executive Committee Member (CEC) for health, Gladys Kimingi, stressed that even though the county has not yet recorded any case of corona virus, there is still a risk of corona outbreak if preventive measures are not undertaken.
She said that the County Governor Anne Waiguru has directed the County multi-agency task force on Covid-19 to ensure that all the guidelines issued on corona virus prevention were followed to the letter in order to protect Kirinyaga residents contracting the disease.
The CEC also said that the county has received 1,500 masks among other items and was awaiting the delivery of more protective gear for use by health providers.
She said that the county government was increasing hand washing points and that the department of environment, water and sanitation would be ensuring that the points have adequate water and soap at all times.
The county government has also been undertaking continuous fumigation of market places, public sanitary blocks and bus stations in all the sub counties
The CEC added that the county was working out modalities of decongesting the major markets such as Kagio, Kutus and Makutano to enable social distancing among traders.
The said markets attract traders from counties as far as Mombasa and Nairobi and pose a great risk of corona virus contamination. She said that car park areas could be considered for use by some traders to offload the markets.
Kimingi said that the county was prepared to handle corona virus and had trained its medical care givers and set aside up a 14 bed isolation ward at Kerugoya County Referral Hospital.
She called on all the county residents to take personal responsibility in corona virus prevention by observing all the laid down prevention guidelines such as washing hands with water and soap, maintaining social distance and sanitizing among others.
By Irungu Mwangi
