• Meru Health executive Misheck Mutuma says 31 contacts traced
• Residents urged to avoid crowded places, wash hands and wear face masks
A bus ferrying people from Lamu to Meru county was intercepted and 11 passengers put into quarantine at the KMTC campus in Meru town.
The bus was intercepted at the Keeria entry point. Both Lamu and Meru counties are not under lockdown but authorities are not taking any chances after a Covid-19 positive driver travelled from Wajir to Meru last week.
The bus was carrying 33 passengers. The rest were turned back and were escorted by Tharaka-Nithi Covid-19 response officials to the county's border with Embu.
It was expected that Embu officials were to also escort the bus out of the county as the people were taken back to Lamu.
The 11 put under quarantine in Meru were locals.
Meanwhile, Meru has recorded its second case of Covid-19, with officials saying contact tracing was going on.
The second case is of a 35-year-old man who had come into contact with the Wajir driver at a garage in Meru town.
Meru health executive Misheck Mutuma said the man was receiving treatment at the Meru Level 5 Covid-19 treatment unit.
The driver is said to have travelled to Meru from Wajir and back when he tested positive for coronavirus.
Mutuma said they have fumigated the premises where the man worked and contact tracing was progressing well.
He said the Covid-19 response team had traced 31 contact persons from the first case of a 23-year-old woman who tested positive on Tuesday.
“We traced 13 contact persons of the first case at Kisima and two more at Gitimbine. Sixteen others from Igoji where she had visited are under self-quarantine but we took their samples awaiting results from Nairobi.
He urged resident to adhere to health directives to curb the spread of the virus, including keeping social distance.
"Wash hands and wear masks. If you have no business in crowded areas, stay at home,” Mutuma said.
He said it was hard to establish where the lady had contracted the disease from and that they are pursuing all leads to establish the source to curb the spread of the disease into villages.
Public health director John Inanga urged residents not to accommodate their friends or relatives sneaking from Covid-19 hotspot counties.
He said they are tracing contacts of the Wajir driver. The man slept in Meru town before travelling back to Wajir.
Inanga said they took a decision to block the Lamu bus because the county was not taking any more chances.
“We took the 11 people who are from Meru to forced quarantine for 14 days. Don’t hide people coming from risky areas because you will be compromising your health, that of your relatives and our health workers,” Inanga said.
Kanuni MCA Mugambi Josphat urged matatu and boda boda riders to observe the Ministry of Health guidelines on curbing the spread of the virus.
Edited by P.O