Mailu visited with the officers on Monday/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 4 – Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu is asking for maintenance of a high standard of cleanliness revealing that 92 people have so far been infected by the deadly cholera bacteria in the latest outbreak.
Mailu assured that the Ministry was working hard to contain the pandemic and stated that the recent outbreak which mostly affected police officers was as a result of outside catering.
The Health CS directed that all food be examined thoroughly and prepared with the highest hygienic standards especially during the rainy season.
“We are attributing it to hygiene and food preparation, food handling which is the issue here that the preparation of that food and the handling of that food is not hygienic enough and I am suspicious that the police canteen might have outsourced the food that was being taken by these officers,” he said.
He further encouraged Kenyans to observe basic habits like washing their hands before eating and drinking boiled water.
“Outsourcing of food is causing us problems because we cannot vouch for the area where this food is prepared and even the people who handle that food. Therefore, we are deliberately exposing other people to risk whether it is in a wedding, whether it is in a public function like this one. We still want to emphasise especially in Nairobi that food handlers must be retested afresh,” he stated.
He further appealed to Kenyans not to panic, as adequate controls have been put in place to prevent the spread of the disease.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko earlier stated that as at 8pm Sunday night, Sinai Hospital in Rongai had admitted 50 patients who tested positive while Nairobi Women’s Hospital had 26.
Sonko indicated that those admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital were 12 and that “teams from the national and county governments have been on the ground all day.”
He said that investigations are still ongoing to ascertain and confirm the diagnosis and the sources of the infection.
“The status of all patients is reported to be stable and under control.”
He further appealed to city residents not to panic, as adequate controls have been put in place to prevent the spread of the disease.
“Above all, let’s continue observing high standards of hygiene, while ensuring we eat properly cooked food, cleaned vegetables and fruits,” he stated.
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