Coronavirus Cases now at 16 after a close contact of the 8 newly reported cases tested positive
Read also: Kenya racing to trace the siaya Priest’s contacts in a bid to curb further spread of the Covid 19 virus
In Summary:
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has confirmed one more Coronavirus case in Kenya today on Monday March 23, 2020.
The latest Coronavirus patient is a close contact of one of the eight newly reported corona-virus cases in Kenya.
646 people have been traced so far. 96 cases have been released after completing the two weeks mandatory quarantine period while 550 are still being monitored.
A Roman catholic affiliated priest tested positive for Corona virus, has been quarantined at Mbagathi Hospital after conducting a funeral and church service in Siaya County last week.
People who had come into contact with the priest are still being traced.
The priest hails from Siaya County but is based in Italy.
He was in Kenya on vacation and happened to have conducted mass at a catholic church in Ambira on Friday and attended a funeral in Ugunja Subcounty on Saturday March 14.
The number of Covid 19 cases in Kenya has increased from seven to sixteen. Confirming the news today, CS Health Mutahi Kagwe said that the most recent coronavirus case is a close contact of one of the recently reported eight cases.
The CS also said that the Government is racing against time trying to trace the Siaya Priest’s last contacts after realizing the potential risk that the Priest may have exposed Siaya County residents to after conducting mass and attending a funeral service at Ugunja Subcounty.
Yesterday, an Italy based Roman Catholic Priest who hails from Siaya County tested positive for the Covid 19 virus.
The Priest was was in Kenya on vacation and happened to have conducted mass at a catholic church in Ambira on Friday and attended a funeral in Ugunja Sub county on Saturday March 14.
Stringent Measures to curb corona virus spread in Kenya
The State has consequently come up with more stringent measures to curb the spread of corona-virus in Kenya.
Some of them include forced quarantine of all passengers coming into Kenya between today and Wednesday March 25, 2020 when all flights shall be halted except those ferrying cargo. All schools and learning institutions were also closed by Friday March 19 2020.
In addition, Government offices and companies must allow workers to work from home, unless it is absolutely necessary to work from the office and Cashless transactions to be used instead of cash transactions. The Cost of transactions should hence be lowered.
Kenyans were also urged to avoid any kind of congregations such as weddings, funerals, church, shopping malls and entertainment places, minimize congestion in public transport, limit congestion in hospitals
Lastly, hospitals and shopping malls to provide water and soap or sanitizers for their customers.