City Hall has announced that it will start fumigating the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and its environs Wednesday as part of measures to contain spread of the new coronavirus.
Nairobi County Health Deputy Director Wilson Langat said that fumigators will be mounted on vehicles within the city centre, an exercise which will also see street families go through sanitisation.
“The vehicles will move around and disinfect locations within the CBD. We have requested the Ministry of Health to provide the necessary equipment for the process,” said Mr Langat.
“Street children are also part of us, and we shall come in as a county and sanitise those we find on the streets,” he said.
This comes after the national government carried out the first fumigation in the country on Saturday in Rongai after it was reported that a woman who tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19) resided in the area.
TRAIN WORKERS
At the same time, the devolved unit said it aims to train at least 3,500 health workers to handle patients with suspected cases of Covid-19 by Friday.
Nairobi Health Executive Hitan Majevdia said more than 250 health workers have so far been trained in the county’s four major hospitals.
Some 150 were trained on Monday — 80 at Mbagathi Hospital, 112 at Mama Lucy Hospital, 60 at Pumwani Maternity Hospital and 38 at Mutuini Hospital.
Mr Majevdia added that another 100 health workers were trained on Tuesday –50 at the STC Clinic and another 50 at Pumwani Maternity Hospital.
“We expect that the training will escalate aiming at 3,000 health workers across Nairobi by Wednesday. Those we have trained are expected to train other health officers, which will definitely increase the numbers,” said Mr Majevdia.
The CEC also urged city residents to access county services online where necessary to avoid crowding at City Hall.
On his part, Mbagathi Hospital chairman George Osewe urged the county and media to sensitise the public.
He also said that normal services had resumed at Mbagathi Hospital after nurses called off their go-slow.
On Monday morning, nurses at the facility went on strike to protest what they termed negligence and lack of proper training to handle coronavirus cases.
But the strike was called off after a meeting between the hospital, the Health Ministry and the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
“There is denial that the coronavirus is here with us and people are not taking preventative measures seriously. We need to give the public the correct information and report as it is,” said Mr Osewe.