Namanga in Kajiado County has been put on the list of high-risk zones after 25 truck drivers in Namanga tested positive for coronavirus
According to Health CAS Rashid Aman, 23 of them are Tanzanians, 1 is Ugandan and 1 is a Rwandese national.
“We have now classified Namanga as high risk based on Covid-19 positive cases detected at border crossing points,” he said adding that those who tested positive have been referred back to Tanzania.
Namanga borders Kenya and Tanzania.
On the Kenyan side, the town lies in Kajiado County while in Tanzania it lies in Longido District.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), we informed you about a team that went to Kajiado to ascertain the measures we needed to put in place to curtail cross border transmission of the disease. Arising from that visit, I want to report that the mobile testing lab that will be deployed at Namanga border post shall be ready within a week,” Dr. Aman said.
He noted the mobile testing lab will be used to run Covid-19 tests for truck drivers and Kenyans with the facility seen as key for surveillance and monitoring of the virus within member states of the East Africa Community (EAC).
On Wednesday, 22 more Kenyans were reported to have tested positive for coronavirus with three of them from Kajiado County: the three were all from Namanga town.
America’s embassy in Tanzania has since raised concern over what it terms as rising and unreported Covid-19 cases in the country.
A health alert issued on Wednesday said the risk of contracting COVID-19 in Dar es Salaam, a major city and commercial port, is extremely high.
“Despite limited official reports, all evidence points to exponential growth of the epidemic in Dar and other locations in Tanzania,” the statement reads.
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