Mombasa orders soap, sanitisers in schools, workplaces

The Mombasa government has ordered all public institutions and workplaces to provide soap, detergents and sanitisers for hand-washing.

The county directed all schools, health facilities and public institutions to have running water.

Mombasa suffers frequent water shortages due to illegal connections, burst pipes and unresolved disputes between the Mombasa Water and Sanitation Company and the Coast Water Works Development Agency.                                                                                              

Health executive Hazel Koitaba said on Wednesday the order was a precautionary measure following increased confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide.

In a statement on March 7, the World Health Organization said confirmed cases around the world had surpassed the 100,000 mark.

Koitaba said although there was no case of coronavirus in Mombasa, precautionary measures must be taken.

The executive directed all public health officers in the county to enforce her directive.

“This is meant to protect our children, learners and the public in general from contracting diseases,” Koitaba said in a statement.

There have been three suspected cases of coronavirus in Mombasa but all have turned out negative.

Koitaba said the three did not meet the WHO case definition.

According to the latest WHO situation report on Wednesday, five new countries/territories/areas including Brunei Darussalam, Mongolia, Cyprus, Guernsey and Panama reported cases of COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours.

As of March 9, 45 state parties informed WHO of additional health measures they implemented in relation to COVID-19 and provided the public health rationale for the measures.

“WHO reiterates that measures that restrict the movement of people during this outbreak should be proportionate to the public health risk, short in duration and reviewed regularly as more information about the virus, the disease epidemiology and clinical characteristics becomes available,” WHO said.

Director general Tedros Adhanom in his regular media briefing on March 9 stated that the threat of a pandemic had become very real.

However, this would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled, he said.

The spread of the virus has affected travel globally with major sporting events cancelled.

In Africa, confirmed cases of the coronavirus have been reported in six countries including Algeria (20), South Africa (7), Senegal (4), Cameroon (2), Nigeria (2) and Togo (1).

Edited by Henry Makori