Wajir residents urged not to go to Somalia

Wajir County residents have been urged to reconsider travelling to Somalia amid regional spread of the new coronavirus.

On Monday, Wajir recorded two more cases of Covid-19 bringing the total in the county to 11.

Officials at the county’s health department say all the 11 cases were imported from Somalia.

They point to the long porous Kenya-Somalia border where security agencies and disease surveillance teams are facing challenges monitoring movement of people.

Wajir Deputy Governor Ahmed Mukhtar said the two cases reported Monday were out of seven samples tested at the regional laboratory in the county.

Mr Mukhtar said the patients, who hail from Eldas and Tarbaj, are asymptomatic and are currently getting medical attention in different isolation centres.

Unlike the other cases which involved livestock traders returning from business trips in Somalia, the positive case in Eldas is a Muslim preacher (tabliq) who returned from Somalia recently.