Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi suspends county office operations over COVID-19

Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi has suspended operations of the county offices after several staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

Speaking during a Press briefing on Tuesday, Governor Murungi said the suspension will be effective from November 17 to December 7, 2020.

“Some of our staff have turned positive and there are quite a number of them. They are from several departments and to mitigate the spread of the virus the offices will be closed for two weeks,” he said.

According to the Governor, total number of samples tested in the county so far are 3,935.

Out of the tested samples, he said, 619 were found to be positive: 424 are male and 369 are female.

Death toll from coronavirus in Meru County stood at 22 as of Monday, November 16, 2020.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced 925 new coronavirus infections from the 5,559 samples tested in the last 24 hours.

The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 71,729 while the total number of samples tested so far is 798,585.

Also reported were 15 new fatalities which pushes the total number of deaths in the country to 1,302.

1,018 patients however recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours: 850 from the Home Based Care program and 168 from various hospitals across the country.