WAJR—A 36-year old man from a livestock trading trip in Mogadishu and intercepted at the border town of Diif has tested positive for the Coronavirus, Wajir Governor reported on Thursday afternoon.
The man, who was asymptomatic, hails from Garissa and was among seven people under quarantine at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) campus in Wajir.
“The patient is in stable condition and remains in isolation at the Wajir Referral Hospital,” said Governor Mohamed Abdi.
Governor Abdi dismissed reports of infected police officer from Kakamega who exhibited signs of the Covid-19, saying the officer tested negative.
“Our disease surveillance team reacted to the report and upon testing, the officer came out negative,” Governor Abdi added.
In light of the first case of the global pandemic in Wajir, Abdi suspended operations at the Wajir Referral Hospital and designated the facility as isolation center for the Covid-19 patients.
He challenged the locals to enhance measures to defeat the spread of the deadly virus such as regular washing of hands and keeping physical distance.
“As a county, we will dispatch senior medical officers to border towns with Somalia to increase screening and fumigation of public places,” the governor noted.
He continued: “In collaboration with the security team led by the county commissioner, we agreed to put the county under initial 14-day lockdown effective from coming Sunday (May, 3) to stop new cases from coming in.”
Nationally, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rashid Aman announced that the total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kenya had risen to 396. This was after 12 people tested positive after health officials tested 777 samples.
“…seven were in Mombasa, three in Nairobi, one in Kitui and one in Wajir,” Dr Amman said.
The ministry further announced that two more patients had died, raising Kenya’s death toll to 17.
