Dont travel to rural areas, Kenyans urged

The Council of Governors has urged Kenyans not to travel to rural areas after three more cases of coronavirus were confirmed.

According to CoG Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, counties are not equipped to handle any outbreak as there are only two testing facilities and they are located in Nairobi.

“I advise people not to move to the rural. I advise them to stay where they are. Stay at home,” he said.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe on Wednesday announced that the total cases of coronavirus in Kenya is now at 7.

It was also revealed that 85 people who reportedly came into contact with a patient who left the Mbagathi Hospital isolation centre are being traced.

In light of this, Governor Oparanya urged the national government to equip all level 4 hospitals and train more health workers.

“Counties have no budgets in the emergency vote. We want to ask the national government to allocate more resources,” he said.

Oparanya further revealed that counties have so far received 2800 protective kits yet they require over 300,000 for adequate preparation and response.

He warned that lack of kits exposes county officers and they have not been told where to get supplies. “Someone is sleeping on the job,” he lamented.

The CoG Chairman further averred that only 2% of their budget is for emergency and neither counties nor the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) can cope with an outbreak yet it is the first line of response.

“We urge the health CS to take this matter seriously. Border counties need to be declared high risk areas. 14 counties had been declared high risk,” he said.

And according to Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati said the next two weeks for Kenya are important.

“When we look at that happened in Italy. We are at a critical stage. We must align ourselves,” he said.

On his part, Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua reiterated that older citizens should avoid non-essential movement as they are more at risk.

“Wazee wetu tunaomba watulie nyumbani, wasiende huku na huku,” he said.

He further warned business against hiking prices for commodities saying: “Biashara yoyote itakayoongeza bei tutazifunga. Wewe na tamaa utaambulia patupu.”