Coronavirus: City Hall to fumigate Nairobi CBD starting today
Nairobi County Health Deputy Director Wilson Langat said that fumigators will be mounted on vehicles within the city centre on Wednesday, an exercise which will also see street families go through sanitisation.
“The vehicles will move around and disinfect locations within the CBD. We have requested the Ministry of Health to provide the necessary equipment for the process,” said Mr Langat.
“Street children are also part of us, and we shall come in as a county and sanitise those we find on the streets,” he added.
This comes after the National Government carried out the first fumigation in the country on Saturday in Rongai after it was reported that a woman who tested positive for new coronavirus (Covid-19) resided in the area.
The Nairobi City County has announced that it will start fumigating the central business district (CBD) and its environs on today as part of measures to contain the spread of new coronavirus.
At the same time, the devolved unit said it aims to train at least 3,500 health workers to handle patients with suspected cases of covid-19 by Friday.
Nairobi Health Executive Hitan Majevdia said more than 250 health workers have so far been trained by in the county’s four major hospitals.
150 were trained on Monday where 80 such officers were trained in Mbagathi Hospital, 112 at Mama Lucy Hospital, 60 in Pumwani Maternity Hospital and 38 at Mutuini Hospital.
Mr Majevdia added that another 100 health workers were trained on Tuesday where 50 were trained at the STC Clinic and another 50 at Pumwani Maternity Hospital.
“We expect that the training will escalate aiming at 3, 000 health workers across Nairobi by Wednesday. Those we have trained are expected to train other health officers, which will definitely increase the numbers,” said Mr Majevdia.
The CEC also urged city residents to access county services online where necessary to avoid crowding at City Hall.
On his part, Mbagathi Hospital chairman George Osewe urged the county and media to sensitise the public while also assuring that normal services had resumed at Mbagathi Hospital after striking nurses called off their go-slow.
On Monday morning, nurses at the facility went on strike to protest what they termed as negligence and lack of proper training to handle coronavirus cases by the government.
But the strike was called off after a meeting between the hospital, the Health Ministry and the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
“There is denial that the coronavirus is here with us and people are not taking preventative measures seriously. We need to give the public the correct information and report as it is,” said Mr Osewe.