Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has ordered the sinking of a new borehole at Mukumu Girls High School following the outbreak of a waterborne disease that has so far claimed four lives.
Victims include three students and a teacher who succumbed to typhoid and E. coli infection.
"The school will be reopened in two weeks and students will receive guidance and counseling following the tragedy," Machogu said on Saturday after he toured the school to assess the situation.
He said the water purification system will cost Sh6 million.
As part of the remedial measures, the CS also transferred Principal Frida Ndolo and named Jane Mmbone as the school head.
He also disbanded the school's board of management.
On Friday, Director General of Health, Patrick Amoth, said the food students consumed was contaminated with human faeces.
"The Ministry wishes to inform the general public that this disease is likely to be a mixture of E. coli and Salmonella typhi which usually occurs if water sources are contaminated with these micro-organisms," he said in a statement.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacteria commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms that can cause food poisoning.
Salmonella enterica typhi is a gram-negative bacterium that is responsible for typhoid fever.
Amoth said that further laboratory analysis carried out on the grains and pulses returned negative results for aflatoxicosis.
"Laboratory tests for Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) including Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Marburg Virus Disease (MVD), Leptospirosis and Crimean- Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Dengue Fever, Rift Valley Fever (RVF) and West Nile Virus have all turned negative," Amoth said.
