Stop briefing on coronavirus cases, Health ministry tells governors

Ministry of Health Director General Dr. Patrick Amoth has now urged county governments to refrain from announcing any coronavirus cases within their jurisdictions.

Addressing a press conference at Afya House on Thursday, Dr. Amoth said there is only one communication centre that is presently in the country’s capital, Nairobi.

He hence appealed to governors to respect the system and let all communication on Covid-19 cases be made at this centre led by the Ministry of Health.

Dr. Amoth spoke after Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya announced confirmation of a coronavirus case in the county saying a 19-year-old male student who returned to the country from London had tested positive.

“We have heard reports that the governor of Kakamega indicated that they have reported a positive case. The case that was reported by the governor is actually a case that is currently admitted at the Mbagathi isolation centre, and the fact that this gentleman comes from Kakamega County…I think that is why Kakamega decided to report,” he said.

“But we want to appeal to the county governments that we have one central reporting system so that we’re consistent throughout our reporting in line with WHO requirements.”

Oparanya, in his earlier address, disclosed that a boda boda rider who carried the said patient on his arrival in the county has been quarantined at the Kakamega County Referral Hospital.

The Governor further stated that a Member of County Assembly as well as the man’s family members are among four people who have been directed to self-quarantine after they were suspected to have been exposed to the virus.