The national government has been asked to boost cross border surveillance at its border points with Tanzania and Uganda after two cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Migori.

News of the border cases confirmed in Migori threw the county in panic, with the county government embarking on rolling out mass testing at its border points.

But a spot check by Nation at the Malaba border in Busia revealed laxity among traders who continue to throw caution to the wind, without strict adherence to health safety measures put in place by the government to contain the spread of the disease.

Many traders have not embraced use of face masks and don’t comply with the social distancing rule.

Concerned residents at the border town asked the government to intensify cross border movement restrictions along the Kenya-Uganda border and others borders to minimise risks of exposure.

They lamented that the government was not strict in enforcing the regulations to minimise the spread of the virus at the border leaving traders to conduct their businesses casually.

In Migori, Kuria leaders are calling for closure of the Kenyan border with Tanzania at Isebania following the weekend confirmation of the two cases at the border point.

Migori town, Isebania, Nyamtiro and Kopanga border posts were near deserted on Sunday as traders and residents remained indoors, even as the county government intensified search for possible contacts of the two confirmed cases.

The two cases, a woman and a toddler from Kuria community tested positive after arriving into the country from Tanzania according to Health Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi.

Governor Okoth Obado noted that the two cases who travelled from Dar-es Salaam and Dodoma last Friday had already been transferred to the county Covid-19 treatment centre in Macalder Sub County Hospital in Nyatike.

An emergency response team from the county had also been dispatched to Ikerege and Isebania in Kuria to trace possible links to the new cases.

“We are not taking anything to chance now that Covid-19 is here with us,” the governor said in a briefing on Sunday.

Nominated MP Dennitah Ghati, Kuria West MP Mathias Robi and his Kuria East counterpart Kitayama Maisori said government laxity in controlling cross border movement has exposed residents to a serious health hazard.

Speaking to the Daily Nation separately, the three leaders said Tarime, a Tanzanian town located about 20 kilometres from Isebania border have already reported four cases, yet cross border movement was still open.

Last week, the County Government of Busia unveiled a state of the art Polymerase Chain Reaction Machine for testing Coronavirus cases that will see at least 100 people tested per day, with results available within six hours.

Governor Sospeter Ojaamong commissioned the testing exercise at the East African Laboratory situated at the Busia County Referral Hospital.

In Kakamega, a truck driver from the Democratic Republic of Congo has been placed in an isolation ward at the Lumakanda Level Four hospital in the County awaiting results of a Covid-19 test.

In Vihiga, the county Covid-19 Committee has announced the start of mass screening of people coming into the county from Uganda following reports that the region is a weak link.

In Kisii, the county government has partnered with Kenya Medical Training College Kisii branch to sensitise locals on prevention measures after the region was listed among the hotspots.

In Siaya, the Covid-19 response team has stepped up public health interventions to fight the virus according to County Commissioner Michael Ole Tialal. He said surveillance systems have been activated up to the village levels.

Report by Ian Byron, Shaban Makokha, Benson Amadala and Dickens Wasonga