This archive report was first published on 12 June 2021.
June 12, 2021 - Kisumu County has adopted a softer approach in the fight against Covid-19, opting for a risk communication campaign to educate residents on the importance of adhering to containment protocols.
The multi-agency committee, co-chaired by Kisumu Governor Prof Peter Anyang' Nyong'o and County Commissioner Josephine Ouko, has been conducting regular talks at open-air markets, local radios, and other media outlets.
Market management committees have appointed market champions to educate traders on Covid-19 protocols, while law enforcers have carried out night raids in bars operating beyond curfew hours, arresting 75 revelers.
Additionally, the county has directed all mortuaries to dispose of unclaimed bodies, with a warning that failure to comply will result in a court order to bury the corpses in a mass grave.
According to Prof Boaz Otieno Nyunya, Executive Committee Member for Health & Sanitation, the Public and Private Hospitals in the county have overstretched their capacities due to a surge in confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Prof Nyunya revealed that the county has received 6,000 rapid testing kits from the Ministry of Health and has vaccinated 32,587 people against the virus, with 4,635 having received the second round of vaccines.
The county has also closed the Bar Korwa market in Seme Sub-County indefinitely for failure to provide sanitary services as required by the Covid-19 containment directive.
As part of the intervention to curb the spread of the virus, the county plans to revive and gazette two county courts to handle members of the public flouting the Covid-19 protocols.
