As Covid-19 disease continues to ravage the economy, Wajir county has reallocated 220.36 tonnes of assorted food to support vulnerable families.
The food was initially bought for 17,000 ECDE learners during the first term of this year before schools were closed to curb teh spread of the virus.
The food worth Sh28 million includes rice, beans, vegetable oil and salt, and will support about 3, 000 households drawn from Mosque Imams, Muadhins, Madrassa and Duksi teachers across the county.
Speaking on Saturday when he launched the distribution of the foodstuff, Governor Mohamed Abdi said about 18,000 individuals will benefit.
“We have decided not to allow food to expire in the store as the vulnerability net of the county widens as a result of the impacts of the coronavirus disease. My government will continue with its strategies to cushion our people from the effects of the pandemic,” Governor Abdi said.
The governor was accompanied by Wajir East MP Rashid Kassim and other national and county government officials.
He said the beneficiaries are important players in moulding young children “hence the need to take good care of them at their hour of need”.
He directed all subcounty and ward administrators to be at their respective duty stations to supervise the food distribution, warning that any reports on loss or sale of the relief food will not be condoned.
He said his administration has embarked on scaled up interventions in the fight against the virus by increasing the isolation bed capacity from 95 to 320 through the establishment of a new facility at Wajir County Radio Station.
Other measures include recruitment of 108 healthcare workers, three UN health volunteers and 1,000 community health volunteers to enhance frontline health services across the county.
The county has also trained more medics and community health volunteers on rapid response and case management.
The governor said the county has also embarked on targeted testing and 138 people have been tested in two days and the “results will be out soon”
Those tested are mostly mostly drawn from workers in eateries and butcheries.
He said the confirmed Covid-19 cases are still 16 cases, there has not been new admissions in the quarantine and isolation facilities.
“We are, however, alive to the fact that the easing of the restrictions on the movements of people and goods against the rising trend in the country might pose a risk and we have therefore put in place all preventive measures towards the control of the disease,” he said.