Samburu govt accuses MoH of misreporting COVID-19 case in the county

Samburu county government has clarified that there is no COVID-19 case in the county as reported by Ministry of Health on Saturday.

While speaking at Samburu County Referral Hospital in Maralal town, Governor Moses Lenolkulal said there is no need for panic among residents as a single case that was reported by the Ministry of Health did not originate from Samburu but from Forole in Marsabit County.

“The case is not actually from Samburu, it is not among the samples that we sent to Nairobi, from reliable sources the contact has been traced to Forole in Marsabit and there is no cause for alarm’” he said.

Governor Lenolkulal urged the COVID-19 national command center to handle samples effectively so as not to raise unwarranted anxiety.

He further said the county government has heightened measures to deal with COVID-19 situation in the county.

“We have procured five ICU beds fully equipped with ventilators and two hundred and fifty isolation beds. Our isolation centers are up and running we just need to strengthen a few logistical issues,” he said.

Lenolkulal said three ambulances have also been earmarked and dedicated to handle COVID-19 cases across the county.

“They will be stationed in Samburu North and Samburu East for purposes of referral in the event we get a COVID-19 cases to our ICU center which is here at our headquarters in Maralal,” he said.

The county has sent 200 to 300 samples to laboratories in Nairobi for COVID-19 testing since March 2020 after COVID-19 was reported in the country.

“We have not been doing very in terms of testing samples and among our gaps identified we were pushing to have a testing center here in Samburu, at some time we may need testing centers to be fully based at the counties because it takes time to get results after sending samples to Nairobi for testing,” Lenolkulal said.