This archive report was first published on 9 July 2020.
Published on July 9, 2020, a family in Bomet County is facing a Covid-19 crisis after one of their close relatives tested positive for the virus in Konoin Constituency.
According to Dr. Joseph Sitonik, the Bomet County Medical Services executive, the patient is a driver at a local tea factory who tested positive on Wednesday night and was taken into isolation at Central Hospital owned by Unilever Tea Company in the neighboring Kericho County.
As a precautionary measure, a total of 80 members of his extended family have been traced and asked to go into self-quarantine with close monitoring by administrators and public health officers, Dr. Sitonik said.
Dr. Shadrack Mutai, the Kericho County executive in charge of Medical Services and Public Health, assured that measures have been put in place to curb further spread of the coronavirus in the area.
"We are working closely with Unilever to ensure the spread of Covid-19 is contained as the company's tea estates are spread across Bomet and Kericho counties," Dr. Mutai said.
Efforts to contain the spread of the virus are underway, with Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony announcing that the county has 2,000 isolation beds, some of which have been set aside by multinational tea companies James Finlays and Unilever.
"Unilever Tea Company has set aside 35 beds while James Finlays has 25 beds for quarantine cases while the county has provided the rest in Sigowet, Londiani and Kapkatet sub-county hospitals with Kericho County Referral Hospital being used for isolation cases," said Prof. Chepkwony.
