Soaring Covid-19 deaths in Coast worrying

The Ministry of Health has expressed concern over rising number of Covid-19 deaths in Mombasa after two more patients succumbed Sunday.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe on Sunday linked the high mortality to residents’ refusal to be tested.

“People are getting sick at home and not reporting to health facilities, and we are also seeing a resistance to test in the Coast,” he said.

He added: “If a person is sick and you try and hide them or try to help them at home then you will be in problems.”

Mr Kagwe said the government is trying as much as it can to trace all contacts in an effort to contain the disease but urged Kenyans to take up tests.

The two deaths are the latest addition to an already increasing deaths in the region.

On May 6, Mr Kagwe announced the deaths of two people who were only discovered to have the virus after their medical cases had been closed. “Both of them - aged 68 and 72 - passed away at home,” he said.

On Friday, the county announced the death of yet another individual who had escaped from isolation with four others the previous day.

On Saturday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman announced yet another death in the Coast. The national tally of confirmed cases stands at 672.

DEMOGRAPHY

At the same time, some 32 patients were discharged from various hospitals bringing the number of recoveries to 239. Of the new infections found in 1,054 samples, 13 were male while 10 were female — 22 Kenyans and one Burundian.

The new cases are distributed in four counties: 12 in Mombasa, six in Mandera, four in Nairobi and one in Kajiado.

Twenty of the cases were picked by surveillance teams and three from mandatory quarantine centres. In Nairobi’s four cases, two are in Umoja and one each in Pipeline and Komarock.

In Mombasa, the 12 new cases are distributed in three estates — Kisauni and Likoni two each and eight in hard-hit Mvita. In terms of age, the new infections are aged between one year and 80.

In consultation with other East African countries, the government has come up with new guidelines to be used by truck drivers in order to arrest the spread of the virus along the transport corridors between Mombasa and Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia.

“Truck drivers have been recognised as a risk population for the spread of Covid 19, and a number of those who have tested positive have been netted across the border points,” Director of Public Health Francis Kuria said.

MANDATORY TESTING

He added: “Looking at the number of cases developing in Mombasa and where the port is, it is likely that the drivers are importing the virus from Mombasa across the transport corridors and all the way to other countries.”

In the guidelines, it is a requirement that before any driver starts a journey, they must have done a Covid-19 test 48 hours before their journey.

“This is because the method used for testing takes 24 hours to release the result,” he said.

Along the corridors, there will be check points where certificates confirming the status of the tests will be checked.

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