Migori Mortuary Operators Warned Over COVID-19

At least three mortuary facilities in Migori County risks losing their licenses for flouting a ban in admitting new bodies as a measure to fight the spread of coronavirus to the region.
Area county emergency response committee named Rapcom, Pastor Machage and Akidiva private hospitals whose morgue facilities were still in operation despite an earlier restriction notice.
At a highly charged meeting co-chaired by the local County Commissioner Joseph Rotich and county executive (CEC) member in charge of health Iscah Oluoch at the governor’s residence this morning, committee members ordered for an immediate closure of the three morgues or have their proprietors arrested and licenses withdrawn for future operation.
At the same time, the team also ordered for total closure of open markets for livestock and Mitumba and ordered the county government to immediately stop collecting revenues.
It emerged that the same county enforcement department was flouting an earlier closure of livestock markets and open air markets by collecting revenues beating the logic of social distancing precaution in fighting the spread of the dreaded virus.
The team also came up with a raft of measures that would be enforced with effect from Wednesday April 1, among them strict observance of the 7pm to 5am curfew.
Some residents of towns and markets in the region were accused of ignoring President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decree last Friday that imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Security officers in collaborations with the county enforcement team were ordered to strictly enforce the order by clearing streets and markets at the right time.
Bus stops in the area will also be cleared of idlers with a directive that only a driver and a conductor will be allowed to collect passengers in turns.
“Only one or two matatus or buses will be allowed within any bus stop at a time and only their conductors and drivers will be allowed to be in one place at a time for adherence to the social distancing measure,” said CC Rotich.
The move will also affect Boda Boda riders who will be cleared from where they always crowd.
All barber shops, salons, pool gaming and crowded garages will also be closed even as the Coronavirus cases hit the 59 mark countrywide.
Various essential departments like the Kenya Power were asked to double efforts in ensuring that there is an uninterrupted power supply to homes since many government and private workers were now working from the comforts of their homes.
The water department in the region will ensure constant supply to the people after the Kenya Power reconnected power to all distribution sources of water in the area.
All the border entry points will be fully manned and every Kenyan returnee from foreign nations will be screened thoroughly before being allowed in.
The Immigration office at the Isebania border crossing point said it was fully alert but blamed the porosity of the long-stretch border line of having several panya roots that have become a serious challenge to controlling free human traffic movement in and out of the country.
So far, Migori County has registered 0 positive Covid -19 cases with a total of 15,631 patients screened.
Some 35 isolation centres and two quarantine facilities – one in Nyatke and at the County referral hospital- have been established in the region, according to the chief Public health officer Fidel Majiwa.
By George Agimba