This archive report was first published on 21 April 2020.
On April 21, 2020, Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja took proactive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the county by setting up screening centers along major highways.
The centers, located at Miasenyi, Manyani, and Njukini, will conduct mandatory temperature checks on travelers using the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway and other main roads entering the county.
Any individual showing abnormal temperature or symptoms related to COVID-19 will be isolated for further testing and transferred to designated quarantine facilities.
According to Governor Samboja, the county is at a high risk of getting the pandemic due to its proximity to neighboring counties where cases have been confirmed.
“We are a highway county and will check everyone passing through here. Any suspicious case will be isolated for more tests. We are not taking any chances,” he said.
As part of the measures, salons, barbershops, and beauty parlors will be closed for 21 days, and construction sectors will be restricted to gatherings of less than 15 people.
The county emergency response committee has also started gathering data on vulnerable individuals, including households with children under five, people over 65, and those from low-income brackets.
