This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
Fear has gripped Bungoma County after a 60-year-old man who traveled from Nairobi tested positive for COVID-19.
The patient, who left his home in Mathare slums, used a matatu to Nairobi CBD and then boarded a North Rift Shuttle to Bungoma town on Wednesday.
He started feeling unwell during the journey and upon arrival at Bungoma bus stage, he took a boda to St. Damiano hospital, his preferred health facility in Bungoma.
At the hospital, a clinician decided to conduct a COVID-19 test on the man due to his difficulty in breathing, and the test came out positive.
The patient is now admitted at an isolation center in Webuye as the County embarks on contact tracing.
Health officials are following up with North Rift to isolate all those who traveled with the patient, but what may be difficult to find is the boda boda fellow who took him to hospital.
Published on July 17, 2020, this incident comes as one of the thousands of people who traveled from Nairobi to upcountry since President Uhuru Kenyatta lifted the restrictions of movement on July 6.
Bungoma has been one of the most affected counties by the pandemic, losing four prominent people to the virus, including Mr. Maurice Namiinda, Senator Moses Wetangula's younger brother Anthony Waswa, Dr. Doreen Adisa Lugaliki, and University of Nairobi Prof Maurice Mang'oli.
