Governor Ali Roba’s 11th media briefing on Covid-19 and flood situation in Mandera County

Good afternoon members of the Press. I have two issues to address- Covid-19 and Flood disaster.
1. Our Coronavirus numbers are rising much faster than expected. Our best weapon remains basic public health tools and these include disease surveillance, case finding, contact tracing, social distancing, washing your hands regularly and mass awareness campaigns on staying at home as we continue to inform our people and families affected by this pandemic on the emerging trends.
2. As I have said before, this coronavirus does not respect nations or ideologies. It does respect religion or leaders. When it attacks no body is spared. You have seen leaders, Imams and even doctors infected. Nobody is safe. I will urge all Mandera people that we must be united against this common enemy called coronavirus. We must be our brothers and sisters’ keepers. We should not host anybody who has crossed the border from our neighboring countries without alerting the health authorities or the police.
3. So far, we have 14 cases which have tested positive for coronavirus, 5 out of the 14 have recovered and have been discharged. Two more have tested negative and are awaiting the second validation test before they can be released. The remaining seven are our current active cases who are undergoing treatment at our isolation ward in Mandera referral hospital.
4. For the six new COVID-19 cases reported in Mandera,we have so far, identified 150 people through contact tracing. Out of this number, we have 86 people in our quarantine facilities already. We are actively pursuing 64 additional contacts.
5. The total number of people tested for Covid-19 in Mandera County so far are 375 out of these 14 have turned positive translating to 3.7% which is very high hence we urge the public to take this issue very seriously.
6. The total number of persons quarantined so far in our facilities are 251 people out of this number 151 have tested negative and finished the mandatory 14 days of quarantine and have been discharged.
7. Of the six new covid-19 cases, two are people who have travel history to Somalia. One is livestock trader and the other is a teacher.
8. One of the contacts believed to be Covid-19 positive from Nairobi who recently came back and is the father of 3-year-old child who tested positive is at large. We are coordinating with Nairobi team to track him down.
9. In the light of the new reported cases in Mandera South, Mandera North, Mandera West and Mandera East, we will upscale our awareness campaigns in all the sub-counties up to the village level.
10. We are facing fresh threat due to floods which has displaced hundreds of families. It is not raining in Mandera but the rainfall from the Ethiopian highlands that is causing disaster downstream. In the context of Covid-19, we have concerns in the inadequate overcrowded makeshift shelters for the displaced persons which is increasing heightens the risk of transmission.
11. We have had major disruption in food security that followed drought, floods, locust invasion, ban on travel into and out of Mandera and the month of Ramadhan. The prices of food have tripled and this has made more families vulnerable. As part of our county government emergency response we are coordinating with the support of National government and development partners to ensure food ration supplies to the most vulnerable and the displaced families along River Daua.
12. The floods have affected at least 7,539 households with commercial centers and villages submerged seriously affecting livelihoods. We appeal to Cabinet Secretary for Ministry of Devolution and Asals to complement our efforts through provision of additional food and non-food items.
13. The distribution of affected households is as follows-Neboi Ward-3,579, Township Ward-1,330, Libehia Ward 650, Khalalio Ward 34 Sala Ward – 500, Rhamu Dimtu – 650 and Rhamu – 800 Households. We will begin distribution of relief food and nonfood items to the displaced families God willing tomorrow.
14. A total of 5,146 acres of land under crops has been washed way and over 4,642 farms flooded with farm infrastructure destroyed.
15. The floods have extensively affected water supply system and paralyzed 19 water intake points impacting a total of 72,200 households. The affected areas include: – Kalicha, Rhamu Dimtu, Yabicho, Rhamu Water Supply, Girisa, Hareri, Sala, Aresa, Gadudie, Khalilio, Darika, Bella, Burabor, Fiqow, Bulla Hajji, Neboi, Mandera Town Suftu intake and Border Point 1.
16. Ministry of Water and Mandera Water and Sewerage Company are finalizing the damage assessment and are working on mitigation measures to restore water supply to these areas including Mandera town which is heavily populated, but this will only be possible after water has subsided.
17. We are putting in place an emergency team along river to continuously monitor water levels but in the mean time we urge the public along the riverhine to move to higher grounds with immediate effect.
END OF STATEMENT
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