The Kakamega county government headquarters has been closed for a week following a surge in Covid-19 infections in recent days.
Governor Wycliffe Oparanya on Wednesday announced the closure of business at the county headquarters and ordered that all county staff be tested for the virus.
The closure comes a day after the county assembly suspended sittings for two weeks after three MCAs contacted the virus.
The county has a total of 316 virus cases, out of which 57 are health workers largely on home-based care. This is the highest number of virus patients in the county since the first case was reported in March.
“Today I have chaired the county multi-agency team which established that the virus is spreading fast in the county because residents have constantly ignored the protocols and restrictions that had been put in place by the ministry of health to curb the spread of the pandemic,” Oparanya said while announcing the closure.
Among those affected are senior officers in Oparanya’s office. Oparanya said that seven people have so far succumbed in the county.
The team resolved to intensify adherence to the Covid-19 protocols and restrictions and ensure all learners in schools wear masks and observe social distancing. Also banned are all political gatherings and church services that culminate into political rallies.
Oparanya said home-based care is encouraged to decongest the health facilities that have now been overstretched.
Kakamega health facilities are stretched as the numbers surge.
Oparanya said that sensitisation programmes on the virus will be intensified starting Thursday at the grassroots levels, involving chiefs and their assistants, County Government Administrators and medical personnel.
The assembly asked the county general hospital to carry out mass testing of MCAs and staff but the hospital management said it did not have testing kits.
County health services executive Dr Collins Matemba said that plans are underway to relocate virus patients at the general hospital to Likuyani Subcounty Hospital and leave the facility for VIP admissions.