80 people quarantined after driver tests positive for Covid-19 in Bomet

At least 80 people suspected to have come in contact with a driver who tested positive for Covid-19 have been quarantined in Bomet County.

Among those who have been quarantined at Kaptien Village in Konoin are extended family members and neighbours of the 40-year-old driver.

Bomet Medical Services and Public Health CEC Dr Joseph Sitonik said the group was rounded up and asked to stay indoor after the driver returned positive results for Covid.

He said a team of public health and security personnel have been deployed to the village to ensure the contacts observe self-quarantine.

Sitonik said the driver who doubles up as a messenger in one of the tea estates in Kericho County fell sick and came home before being referred to hospital by relatives.

Sitonik said it is at Central Hospital where health personal found him to exhibit coronairus symptoms where they took his samples for test.

“After being admitted, doctors opted to test him for Covid and he returned positive results and we are now out to search for all his contacts,” he said

“At the moment we have put 80 people into quarantine and numbers are going to rise since the driver interacted with many people both at his work place and home,” he said.

Sitonik said samples will be taken from all the contacts currently in quarantine.

“At the moment all the contacts we have identified are under self-quarantine and if they are going to ignore the directives we are going to force them into supervised quarantine at their cost,” said Sitonik.

Sitonik said health officials in Kericho County have mounted a man hunt for staff of the tea estates where the driver works.

“Since the driver moves around distributing letters within the estate a number of his colleagues who came in contact with him will be taken in for quarantine and tested,” he added.

Sitonik at the same time said the county was ready for any outcome from the incident saying the county has put in place all the required measures to tackle Covid

He said at the moment the county has 95 isolation beds distributed across the county with another 224 beds being prepared at Koiwa Health Centre to deal with Covid cases in case of a surge.

Sitonik also revealed that the county has 15 ICU beds and two mobile ventilators which will come in handy to tackle the virus.

So far, Bomet had earlier recorded one positive case of the virus.