Seven people with a travel history have been quarantined in Baringo County on suspicion of having contracted covid-19.
The county chief officer for health and preventive services Dr. Winnie Bore said two of the people in quarantine were among passengers from Mombasa who travelled in same bus in which a person was confirmed positive in Nakuru.
“As of now, we don’t have any person who has tested positive but we are in the process of sending samples of one of the suspected individuals quarantined at Eldama Ravine hospital and from there we can ascertain whether we have a coronavirus patient or not,” said Dr. Bore.
The county executive stated that the devolved unit was prepared to handle cases of coronavirus as they have trained their health workers.
Dr. Bore noted that they have challenges on supplies of protective gears but they were utilizing some Sh200 million allocated by the County Assembly for buying the requisite medical equipment.
She encouraged members of the public to embrace wearing of face masks noting that those unable to buy the medically certified protective gears were allowed to use those locally made as a remedial measure as they sourced for supplies.
Dr. Bore was speaking in Kabarnet town Saturday while commissioning an inaugural weekly fumigation exercise at the town, which is the county headquarters.
She noted that similar exercises would be done in Marigat followed by Kabartonjo, Eldama Ravine and all the remaining sub-counties.
The health executive noted that the areas targeted in the fumigation exercise included markets, matatu termini and streets.
Kabarnet MCA Ernest Kibet lauded the health department for the fumigation exercise noting that it was a gesture to show citizens that the county government was taking precautions.
Kibet asked people to complement government’s effort to curb potential spread of the deadly viral disease through continued compliance of the advisories provided by Ministry of Health.
The MCA asked the county health personnel to use the few available masks prudently, while urging Kenyans to learn from other nations where people initially ignored health advisories leading to massive infections.
He said the county administration had embarked on plans to identify section of people facing starvation so as to give them free food supplies, even as the global pandemic threatens to accelerate food insecurity especially among the very needy families.
By Vincent Miningwo and Christopher Kiprop
Seven Quarantined in Baringo over Coronavirus
