Kilifi County has managed to keep its coronavirus cases constant at 11, all thanks to quick social interventions and rapid contact tracing since the first case was reported. This is even as the neighbouring Mombasa County struggles to contain the outbreak as its numbers rise daily.
From the containment measures announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta that saw Kilifi’s boundaries with Mombasa and Kwale closed, to suspension of international flights landing in Malindi, and thorough contact tracing mechanisms deployed by the county, the county seems to have got it right.
When Kilifi Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi tested positive for Covid-19 on March 22, the county’s health team rushed to do contract tracing, placing more than 100 people under self-quarantine.
The contacts included county staff led by Governor Amason Kingi, police officers, officials of an NGO and villagers. “We are ahead of all the other counties when it comes to coming up come up with stringent measures to curb the spread of the virus. We decided to take this action after the county was thrown into a panic mode following the confirmation of the first Covid-19 case,” Mr Kingi told the Nation.
He said they first identified weak links such as bars, restaurants, boda bodas, matatu, markets, social gatherings, quarries, some businesses such as EPZ companies and salt firms among others and came up with directives on their operations.
“We directed boda boda and matatu operators to observe hygiene and limit the number of passengers to enable social distancing.
‘‘Later, we banned them all together and closed bars, night clubs, quarries and other non-essential businesses,” he said.
Through Mr Saburi, several other people tested positive including a banker at Diamond Trust Bank, Kilifi branch.
With each positive case, the county’s rapid team would cast its net winder, tracing individuals and sending them into self-isolation for 14 days.
This was also the case with staffers at the DTB Bank.
“As a precaution, all employees who came into close contact with the patient were directed to self-isolate for 14 days,” the bank’s CEO Nasim Devji said.
Considered an Italian playground in Africa, Malindi was expected to see an implosion of the virus following the rampage it caused in Italy. But the immediate ban on flights and the repatriation of more than 70 Italian tourists in March acted as a master stroke.
With the boundary between Mtwapa and Shanzu closed, and coronavirus cases confirmed in almost all satellite estates within Mombasa, it was expected that Mtwapa would have positive cases given that it serves as a bedroom for Mombasa workers.
But the closure of the boundary and the curfew, which has seen Mtwapa’s famed entertainment joints closed, has helped Kilifi to maintain the curve.
For other boundary villages, community policing has been the saviour. Ganze Deputy County Commissioner Richard Karani said the security team has laid strategies with the community to raise alert on strangers and individuals who might try to sneak in from Mombasa.
Mr Kingi said he has hired vehicles and public address systems to sensitise locals on Covid-19 in all the 35 wards. He added that he has also ordered the EPZ factory in Mtwapa to make 500,000 face masks to be distributed to locals.
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