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Four governors from the counties bordering Lake Victoria Basin have petitioned the national government to impose a partial lockdown in select areas in order to control the spike in coronavirus infections.

Governors Anyang’ Nyongó (Kisumu), Sospeter Ojaamong’ (Busia), Wycliffe Wangamati (Bungoma), Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega) and Stephen Sang’ (Nandi) on Sunday held a consultative meeting with a section of the technical team from the national government where they delivered the petition.

The governors are of the opinion that only a partial lockdown of select areas that have recorded a higher number of infections could save the region from turning into a hotspot.  

The National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus (Nerc) was led by the acting Director General for Health Patrick Amoth.

The county chiefs are wary of the infections rate, a matter that has drawn concerns from health experts.

 Dr Amoth is said to have promised to deliver the petition before a full Nerc meeting in Nairobi for deliberations and subsequent decision on the way forward. 

Counties in the Lake basin, particularly Kisumu and Siaya have on the radar of the Ministry of Health for recording a sharp rise in new cases of Covid-19 infections particularly in the month of June.

Confirming the meeting, Oparanya disclosed yesterday that the situation was bad especially in Kisumu, Siaya and Homa Bay counties.

“There have been concerns about the spike in infections especially following the Madaraka Day celebrations in Kisumu.

In our meeting, we proposed to the national technical team that they consider imposing a partial lockdown in some of the affected counties until the situation improves,” Oparanya said.

He noted varying of curfew hours in the select areas, tightening of the existing protocols and the closure of markets and churches among other measures would help stem the tide.

Cumulative infections 

Homa Bay County has recorded a total of 875 cumulative infection cases until June 14.

 Kisumu has registered 5,994 infections over the same period. 

Yesterday, out of the 456 recorded new cases, Nairobi was leading with 116 followed by Kisumu 66, Busia 42, Siaya 30, Mombasa 28, Kilifi 26, Homa bay 22, Bomet 18, Kakamega 18 and Nyamira 12.

 The country had a positivity rate of 8.1 per cent.

Experts have blamed the surge in the number of Covid-19 to complacency by the residents, high traffic of people’s movement in the region and increased testing.

Kisumu has registered a positivity rate of about 20 per cent over the past one month.

 The county’s authorities have been on high alert strictly enforcing the MoH protocols. 

Among the measures the multi-agency committee co-chaired by governor Nyong’o and county commissioner Josephine Ouko has instituted are: Regular multi-agency surveillance in market places to enforce Covid-19 protocols and barring morgues from preserving bodies beyond 48 hours.

Others are cremation of bodies the same day they are removed from the morgues before 2pm with only 100 people allowed to attend burial ceremonies; public awareness campaigns on the Covid-19 regulations are to be mounted by public health officials targeting markets and schools.