With another COVID-19 death reported on Saturday, May 2, Governor Hassan Ali Joho has warned that more stringent measures would be enforced in the coming days to deal with the imminent danger.
Among measures the county government was mulling over was arresting and charging residents who fail to show up for the mass testing in targeted estates in Mombasa town.
“People stay here as a community, they share most of the amenities here including certain household items. People don’t want to be tested, some are saying there is no case in Mombasa yet people are dying. Take it from me, you will be tested by force and if you don’t want you will be arrested,” he stated.
During a presser earlier on the day, Joho said a handful residents turned up to be tested on Friday, May 1, when the exercise kicked off.
“People are paying to be tested in other countries, we brought these tests here for free yet by yesterday only seven people had been tested in Tijara. Surely, the disease is killing us and all you can do is to spread propaganda? We have buried people here and you know them,” he said.
He cautioned naysayers to stop peddling propaganda that the region was free of COVID-19 when the disease had claimed seven people and the number could swell if nothing was done.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi confirmed a 51-year-old woman from the county succumbed to the disease. The said woman, however, had other underlying medical problems.
The government identified Mvita, Bamburi and Likoni areas as hotspots with Mvita leading with soaring numbers currently standing close to 40 cases. Health ministry attributed the high rate of infection in the area to a possible interaction between residents and local herbalist who died from coronavirus.
“Mvita is where we had an 87-year-old herbalist who died and almost all the cases in Mombasa can be traced back to the same source,” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said on May 1. The disease has so far claimed 22 lives out of 435 confirmed cases with 152 recoveries while one case out 214 admitted at hospitals remained critical.
