This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
Kenya's COVID-19 tally reached 700 on May 11, 2020, after 28 new cases were confirmed within 24 hours. The new cases included nine in Kajiado County, which has now recorded a total of seventeen coronavirus cases.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman expressed concern over the large number of cases at border counties, citing the nine cases in Kajiado as an example. 'It concerns us when we see large numbers of cases at border counties. The nine cases in Kajiado are Kenyan truck drivers from Tanzania who were tested at Namanga border point,' Aman pointed out.
Other counties that recorded new cases on May 11, 2020, included Mombasa (10 cases), Nairobi (7 cases), and Wajir (2 cases). The country's coronavirus death toll also rose to thirty-three after one more patient succumbed to the virus in Nairobi.
As part of efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health had designated stopover areas for truckers transporting cargo to neighboring countries. Director of Public Health Dr Francis Kuria explained that the enhanced measures were aimed at addressing the cargo transport sector, which had emerged as a potential weak link in the fight against COVID-19.
Seven Kenyan truck drivers were being treated in Uganda after testing positive for COVID-19 on May 8, 2020. The Ministry of Health had also scaled up the number of testing centres for cargo transporters along the Nairobi-Namanga corridor and the Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba corridor.
