The rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in Kiambu county is due to its high population and the reopening of the economy, Governor James Nyoro has said.
Speaking on Friday at the county headquarters, he said Kiambu is the second-most populous county after Nairobi and more people are coming out to be tested.
Nyoro spoke while receiving food donations and other essentials from private firms within the county. The donations were meant for the vulnerable in society and the war on the virus.
“Kiambu being the second-most populous county after Nairobi and by housing international organisations, there are more people who want to know their status. Institutions such as the international research institute in Uthiru and others within Gigiri such as UNEP could also contribute to the rise of Covid-19 numbers,” he said.
He said Kiambu is home to many entrepreneurs and businesspeople, hence most of them are coming out to be tested so they can resume their operations.
"We are not trying to give excuses; we are trying to look at it carefully because without knowing what the data is telling us, we cannot come up with interventions,” Nyoro said.
“If it is eateries or hotels, you can only go back with a certificate; if it is transport, you can only go back with a certificate.”
Nyoro said the county government is prepared to fight Covid-19 and has installed 226 beds at the Tigoni Level-4 Hospital, which has been turned into a Covid-19 centre. Another 102 beds were distributed to Gatundu, Thika and Kiambu level-5 hospitals, and 560 beds at isolation centres that host ICUs.
“We have 398 people who have tested positive in the county and currently there is 28 Covid-19 patients. We only opened doors last week at the Tigoni Covid-19 Emergency Centre where most of them are symptomatic. We are expecting that in the next one-and-a-half months we will have put up 760 beds across all the facilities that we have,” the county boss said.
The county government is building more health centres so they are closer to the people. This is part of efforts to decongest bigger hospitals, especially for patients with noncommunicable diseases.
Nyoro said the county Covid-19 emergency kitty was set up by well-wishers and communities to help the needy and vulnerable.
“We came up with a concept of 'adopt a village feed a family'. One household has an average of four people and it takes Sh2,500 feed that household for one month and we have identified the households, which are about 31,000 with different vulnerability levels," he said.
"Some 1,169 households have been adopted with a total contribution of Sh8.8 million where they are receiving money through their phones or a shop next to them where money is sent directly. This is in addition to 15,000 households we have distributed foodstuffs to.”
Nyoro added that he has reached out to the diaspora community to support in the fight against the virus.
