The Kilifi County Government will from Thursday scale down operations following an upsurge of Covid-19 among staffers.
Announcing the measures on Wednesday, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi said currently six officers from the county tested positive for Covid-19.
Among those who have contracted the virus is a county executive committee member.
Kingi said in the next two weeks, only officers offering critical services will be allowed to their workstations.
So far Kilifi County has recorded 504 cases of Covid-19.
“We have decided to scale down our operations for the next two weeks so that we reduce the infection rate. The six officers have interacted with many people that’s why we do not want to take chances. We are trying to avoid a scenario where someone comes to seek for services then he or she goes back infected with the coronavirus,” said Kingi.
Among those who have so far been infected include medical staff.
Since the first case was reported in the county, 24 medics have been infected while in the line of duty.
“We have made sure that our medical personnel have the right PPEs to protect themselves when they are trying to combat the virus,” added Kingi.
We cannot use the police to fight Covid-19. We need to have personal responsibility. People still throng funerals and the mortuary which is wrong.
Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi
He also announced that various county offices will be fumigated and a voluntary mass testing for the staff undertaken.
Even as the governor announced measures to reduce the spread of the virus, several hospitals and public places have continued to ignore the containment measures.
At the Kilifi county hospital, members of the public continue to throng the wards to visit their relatives admitted at the facility.
The Kilifi County hospital mortuary which is supposed to allow only five people to collect a body is allowing more than the required number and in most cases, the collecting area is ever packed on Saturdays.
The hospital administration identified an amenity ward at the facility to act as a holding ward for suspected Covid-19 cases as they await results.
However, in some instances, confirmed positive cases are not isolated from the negative cases.
“There was a case where six patients were waiting for their results at the amenity ward. One of the patients died and the results came out positive. There was a chief in the ward who also turned positive but nurses were asked to nurse him there while there are four patients who are negative,” said a source who spoke in confidence.
The amenity ward being semi-private has no controlled time for visiting the patients.
“People come here and leave at will. They also move out to buy things for the patients and come back. The same staff working at the amenity are the same staff working in the other wards,” said the source.
Kingi said such challenges have led to the upsurge of the virus cases.
The governor said areas which recorded very few cases in the first wave have nor recorded many cases.
“Magarini had less than 10 cases in the first wave but now has 120 cases. Malindi also had less than 10 but now has 93 cases. This is worrying and calls for concerted efforts to combat the pandemic,” he said
He said testing is now being delayed after Kemri scaled-down testing to concentrate on research.
“We only have the Malindi laboratory doing the testing which takes about five days. We are in talks with Kemri to see if they can increase the number of tests as they used to in the first wave. Actually, the delayed testing is a recipe for the spread of the virus,” he added.