Testing of truck drivers intensified

A medic takes a sample from a truck driver at the Busia One Stop Border Post (OSBP) for Covid-19 testing. [Ignatius Odanga/Standard]

Testing of truck drivers at the Busia and Malaba One-Stop Border Posts has been intensified.

The samples are being submitted at Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) centre at Alupe by a response team stationed at the border county for screening.

Response team coordinator David Mukabi said the first batch of over 300 samples collected from the drivers was submitted to the centre on Wednesday evening for testing.

Lucy Okubi, a lab manager at the Alupe Kemri centre, yesterday confirmed the availability of reagents and test kits to facilitate the tests.

The response team has been relying on a machine at the Busia County Referral Hospital with a testing capacity of 100 samples per day.

The machines, said Ms Okubi, are able to conduct at least 5,000 tests in 24 hours. Busia has so far recorded two cases of coronavirus.

Both of them are truck drivers who were first tested in Uganda. Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has said some of the items his administration has received from donors to stem spread of coronavirus will be distributed to sub-county health facilities to help fight the virus.