Govt rolls out mass testing for coronavirus, 1000 kits deployed to KPA

Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi has said 1000 coronavirus testing kits will be deployed to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).

Dr. Mwangangi said the decision was based on the risk of transmission identified by monitoring teams.

“We are rolling out mass testing taking into consideration the risk profile of mass clusters. In total, the first phase of mass testing will see approximately 12,000 testing kits deployed to target areas in the next few days,” she said during a Press briefing on Tuesday.

The CAS said Kibera slum in Nairobi has also been identified for priority testing.

Quarantine centres, hotels, isolation facilities and hospitals will also be prioritised for mass testing in Nairobi.

The same will be replicated in Mandera and Siaya counties during the first phase.

Information on other areas is expected to be released in the coming days.

The announcement on mass testing comes hours after KPA reported seven cases of coronavirus.

Acting Managing Director Rashid Salim said four are port employees and three are contracted cleaners.

“Unfortunately, we have since lost two members of staff to the disease while all those who had contacts with the patients have been identified and are being monitored in quarantine within Mombasa,” he said.

The rest of the patients are admitted to the Coast Provincial General Hospital and are reported to be responding well to treatment.

So far, Kenya has confirmed 216 cases of coronavirus: 41 have recovered while nine died from the COVID-19 disease.