Managing fear key to defeating Covid-19, says Red Cross

The fear around the novel coronavirus could be more devastating than the disease itself if not well managed, Kenya Red Cross Society has said.

Coast regional manager Hassan Musa on Saturday said the fear is brought about by the lack of information about the virus.

This, he said, gives chance for falsehoods to be spread, especially via social media.

“It is true, there is fear especially now that this Covid-19 is something new. There is nobody that does not fear death. But fear comes because of lack of facts.

“To reduce stigma and fear among community members, we need to have facts - the correct information about this virus,” Musa said.

He spoke at Red Cross’ Mombasa office where 20 members of the civil society were trained on the coronavirus.

Red Cross, in conjunction with county governments, has so far trained over 400 professionals and experts on the virus.

These include Kenya Prisons Service staff, Red Cross staff, and now Civil Society members.

Apart from training Red Cross offers psycho-social support, Musa said the fear about the virus has already claimed one life in Kwale county and this needs to stop.

Muslims for Human Rights has already documented two deaths and two assaults over the Covid-19 fears.

In Kibundani village in Kwale county, George Kotini Hezron was Tuesday night attacked by a group of youth who accused him of having the coronavirus.

He died while receiving treatment at a nearby hospital where good Samaritans had rushed him.

Kwale county police commandant Joseph Nthenge said Kotini was drunk and was heading home when he encountered the youth.

He said police are still conducting a probe to get the identities of the youth involved for possible prosecution.

On Friday, a man in Magongo, Mombasa county, was lynched after he was caught breaking into a shop.

The man is said to have lost his casual job at one of the godowns in Changamwe.

“There is no work at the godowns and most are now closed. He kept on saying he has to feed his family and unfortunately was tempted to steal from a shop,” said an acquaintance of the victim.

At Magongo Mwisho area, George Oyoo, 23, was beaten senseless by a mob after he choked on his food at an eatery and started coughing on Tuesday evening.

“Other people in the eatery panicked and accused him of trying to infect them with coronavirus. They beat him up,” Muhuri rapid response officer Francis Auma said.

In Jomvu’s Mkwajuni area, Mariam Kadilo, 47, was walking home on Tuesday evening when she sneezed.

A teenager, who was walking behind her joked that she should self-quarantine.

“However, other people who were also walking alongside Kadilo took the matter seriously and started roughing her up for sneezing without covering her nose,” Auma said .

 “There is so much misinformation about this virus that it is becoming dangerous just to cough or sneeze,” said Auma, who called for more sensitization on the Covid-19.

On Saturday, Musa said sensitisation will help Kenyans decipher the truth from falsehoods.

“Members of the civil society are key to this. That is why we train them,” Musa said.

Coast Civil Society Reference Group chairman Zedekiah Adika said the 20 trained rights activists from different lobby groups will be monitoring what the government is doing on Covid-19.

Adika said the training has equipped the activists with vital knowledge which they will disseminate to the public to better defend themselves against the coronavirus.

“The biggest gap that is there in this issue of COVID-19 is the lack of information. That is the information that we have got now,” he said after the training.

He said they will do a lot of advocacy and sensitisation through posters, radio programmes and newspaper campaigns to reach as many people as possible.

“We are also going to train different people and organisations such as the boda boda and the matatu operators,” Adika said.

The reference group chairman said it is important for Kenyans take the virus seriously.

Muhuri provided the trainees with soaps, wet wipes and disinfectants as part of efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus.