Governor Ali Roba’s fifth circular on measures to fight Coronavirus in the county

Ladies and gentlemen of the Fourth Estate Good afternoon.Let me thank you immensely for your continued partnership and support at this critical moment.We cannot win this war without the crucial support of the media.
Welcome to our regular briefing session on measures of containing the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic-(Covid-19).
1.Mandera County continues to upscale surveillance and containment measures by screening passengers arriving by road and by air, screening at border crossing points, public sensitization campaigns, fumigation of public areas, identification and preparation of isolation and quarantine centres across the county. As you are aware a lot measures have been taken including closure of religious gathering places, madrassas, and Duksi and restricted weddings and funeral meetings, availing hand washing facilities in public places among others.
2. Previously through our surveillance we have picked up two international travelers who did not finish the mandatory 14 days quarantine before arrival in Mandera. They were subsequently quarantined in our facilities until and released after 14 days and were declared healthy. Previously we submitted five samples to National Influenza Centre in Nairobi and the results were all negative.
3. On the 5th of April 2020, at around 11.03 am a call came through our county hotline from a private health facility indicating the presence of two persons with flu like symptoms and fever. Our Covid-19 response team picked up the two persons and isolated them at MCRH isolation facility. The entire family contacts of the two clinicians who attended to them were all put under mandatory quarantine. Samples were collected and sent to Nairobi as patient management started. The results have come back this morning and the results are confirmed that the two have coronavirus making them the first two index cases in Mandera County.
4. We urge all passengers who travelled aboard the Makka Bus on Tuesday 31st March 2020 from Nairobi and arrived in Mandera on Wednesday 1st April 2020 to present themselves to the nearest health facility or to self-quarantine themselves with discipline and dedication for 21 days. The patients were seated on seats number 13 and 14 of this bus.
5. Mandera County Covid-19 team has embarked on contact tracing and the first 14 persons are under quarantine and the process of identifying other contacts vigorously on going through investigation of the passenger manifest jointly with the bus management.
6. The latest development confirm our fears of the reality of the possible spread of this disease through human traffic and reaffirms the decision of His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta to cancel movement in and out of Nairobi as well as other counties.
7. We stand by the decision of President Uhuru to cancel travel in and out of Nairobi. But considering the total lock down and announcement of the president and the subsequent cancellation of all flights by Kenya Airports Authority and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority we will have major difficulties in having samples taken to Nairobi for specimen testing and investigation.
8. Previously it was taking us about four days turnaround time for getting results back in Mandera. We urge the Cabinet Secretary for Health Mr. Mutahi Kagwe to consider approving KEMRI to establish a sample collection centre in Mandera now that the flights have been banned.
9. Going forward, I would like to ask all the non-state actors to coordinate their activities with the committee co-chaired by the County Commissioner Mr. Onesmus Kyatha and the Deputy Governor H.E. Mohamed Arai. We have a secretariat within the county headquarters where the activities are being coordinated from to ensure maximum impact.
10. We will extend our preparedness by setting aside isolation wards to cover all sub counties by assigning trained health workers and strategic stationing of three dedicated ambulances for Covid-19 evacuation and referrals.
11. We continue to face major challenges with enforcement of social distancing especially in public transport and trucks ferrying quarry workers. These pose huge risks of spreading the virus and we request the police to enforce social distancing.
12. Finally we urge the public to stop all non-essential travel within Mandera County.