NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar, 11 – The Council of Governors (CoG) Wednesday said 23 county governments had already established isolation and treatment facilities as part of preparedness measures on the coronavirus epidemic.
Speaking during a press briefing, CoG Wycliffe Oparanya further said that the rest of the counties are working on the isolation wards which he defined as “a room or a ward prepared according to specifics of national emergency response team.”
“23 have reported having set up and remaining are in the process, the COG secretariat is in contact with the counties to see the progress and this response come on daily basis to ensure that all counties have these facilities,” Isiolo Governor Mohamed Kuti, who is also the Chairman of the Governors’ Health committee, added.
The coronavirus epidemic which is now fast spreading in Italy had claimed 1,113 lives as of Tuesday while at least 115,000 infections had been reported worldwide.
Various cases have reported in Africa. However, no East African country has been affected by the virus so far.
As part of preparedness measures, devolved governments have also developed contingency plans and budgets to guide response to potential outbreaks.
Governor Oparanya said the budgets are part of finances set aside for emergency which account for 2 per cent of the total budget for all the 47 counties.
“If you do not have that, then you are forced to do a quick supplementary to make sure you are able to shift money from one budget line to the supplementary budget,” he said.
CoG said a multi–agency emergency response committee had been established at levels (IV and V) of healthcare facilities to deal with the threat.
“The committees consist of county governor, county commissioner, CEC Members for Health, Finance, Public works, Education, Chief Officer Health, County chief of police and County Police Commander,” the statement issued by the COG noted.
Oparanya who doubles up as the Kakamega Governor said that all counties have received 5,000 personal protective equipment kits for their healthcare workers. 14 counties categorized as high risk received 10,000 kits each, he added.
He said that emergency operations center have been activated in all counties.
Rapid response teams are also on standby to monitor and investigate cases in the counties.
“We wish to assure the country that there is no cause for alarm at the county level as stringent measures have been put in place,” he said.
