Busia is planning to reopen a Covid-19 treatment centre it had closed two months ago.
The treatment facility at the Agricultural Training Centre along the Busia-Kisumu highway was closed in August after coronavirus cases in the border county reduced significantly.
But county universal health coverage director David Mukabi told the Star the Health department will have to reopen the centre as Covid-19 cases continue to rise. He, however, did not specify when the facility would become operational again.
“The reason why the centre was closed was that the cases had become so few and even right now, despite the cases rising, we are really trying to embrace home-based care,” Mukabi said.
Out of the 685 people who tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, 95, were from Busia. The figure shot up by 81 having risen from 14 on Saturday.
Health chief officer Isaac Omeri said with the number of Covid-19 cases increasing, the county will have no option but to reopen the closed treatment centre.
The ATC centre was opened in June to accommodate Covid-19 positive patients following a shortage of space at the Alupe treatment facility.
By then, Busia was recording over 100 virus cases in some days. The majority of those who were testing positive were long-distance truck drivers.
The number of coronavirus cases in the country has continued to rise in what the Health ministry describes as the virus’ second wave.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has already indicated that he is faced “with a very difficult time” of deciding what to do following a sharp increase in cases after he lifted tough restrictions in August.
“We are going through that very difficult time of saying, now, what do we do again? Do we close up? We shall be coming to that, not today, but soon,” the President said on Sunday.
The Ministry of Health has attributed the rising numbers to the increased political activities during which little or no precautionary measures are taken.
Authorities have warned that the country is headed for tough times after reporting more new cases and more deaths.