• Lancet Laboratories declared the 13 employees positive only for them to be declared negative by the Government Chemist.
• County government accused of victimising and harassing the Safaricom staff when all of them had been Covid-19 negative from day one.
None of the 13 Safaricom Meru branch staff declared Covid-19 positive by Lancet Laboratories has the coronavirus, raising questions on the accuracy of the Health ministry daily updates.
Health executive Misheck Mutuma told the Star that the 13 employees turned negative after samples were tested by the Government Chemist.
“The 13 Safaricom staff were declared Covid-19 positive after Lancet Laboratories tests announced by Health ministry. We immediately took the samples to the Government Chemist after they protested the outcome and they were tested two times and none was positive,” Mutuma said.
Some Meru activists and residents are now accusing the county government of creating fear among residents. Others claim the announcements are made to solicit funds from donors and the international community.
Political activist Salecio Thuranira cast aspersions on the county government, claiming that it had victimised and harassed the Safaricom staff when all of them had been Covid-19 negative from day one.
Thuranira asked, “If the county is blaming Lancet, why did they not trace and quarantine Safaricom staff family members? Why target a big company like Safaricom whose staff were negative?"
According to him, the county is hiding something from Kenyans and demanded that the 13 be compensated for psychological harassment.
With the Safaricom staff cleared, the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Meru is now three.
Mutuma dismissed the activist's assertions, stating that the devolved unit had no ill motive.
“We had 20 initial contacts and thereafter 65 primary contacts. The number of tertiary contacts was 185. We feared exposure. It was a complicated issue but the good thing after tests they became negative and the 20 who were their contacts and quarantined turned negative twice."
He said he could not comment more as the matter was being handled by the national government.
The Lancet Laboratories Kenya is yet to respond to an email sent by Star on the allegations.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe also did not respond to this reporter's text message.
Governor Kiraitu Murungi announced the county was coronavirus free after all the 17 patients diagnosed with the virus recovered and joined their families.
Kiraitu said his administration is running against time to ensure it achieves President Uhuru Kenyatta’s target of at least 300 isolation beds.
He said they will have 340 isolation beds by end of next week and train 2,000 community health volunteers for deployment as care givers to home-based Covid-19 patients.
- mwaniki fm