Health volunteers trained to prevent coronavirus spread

Uasin Gishu County Government has trained 830 community health volunteers, who will be deployed to take part in door-to-door campaigns to stop coronavirus spread.

The training and deployment came as Governor Jackson Mandago (pictured) named persons who had travelled into the county from countries that have recorded high number of Covid-19 cases, but had failed to self-quarantine as directed by the national government.

Uasin Gishu Health Evelyne Rotich said the health volunteers will sensitise residents in all the county’s six sub-counties.

“The team has been trained adequately on how to screen and identify suspected cases of coronavirus. They will ensure that the public is conversant with how to tackle the virus,” Ms Rotich said. 

She said suspected Covid-19 cases would be referred to four isolation units set up in level four hospitals across the county.

Suspected cases

Speaking after the unveiling of the health volunteers, Mr Mandago said a resident of Uasin Gishu, who recently jetted back into the country from Qatar, has been interacting freely with locals in Chereber.

He said a second resident had defied self-quarantine and was carrying on business as usual in Kamagut. The person, said Mandago, had travelled back to Uasin Gishu from the US.

The county chief further reported that a resident, who recently travelled from Japan, was mingling freely with villagers in Burnt Forest.

Mandago said locals had reported several cases of persons travelling from countries that had recorded high cases of coronavirus and not going into self-quarantine.

He expressed concern over lack of adherence to Covid-19 preventive measures by locals in rural areas.

According to the governor, residents are now congregating in illicit drinking dens after bars and night clubs were shut down to minimise congestion.

“We have seen what happened in China, Italy, Spain and Korea among other countries. Let us not allow the same situation happen in our country,” he added.

Italy has recorded 6,077 deaths and a total of 63,927 cases.