NAIROBI, Kenya, May 10 – The Ministry of Health has expanded its presence in the border town of Mandera in a bid to facilitate targeted mass COVID-19 tests amid concerns over cross border movement along the Kenya-Somalia border.
A support team assigned to high-risk areas in Mandera had by Saturday collected 241 samples, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said.
“The Ministry of Health is working with partners and has sent a health support team in Mandera to conduct a mass testing of the hotspots and we have so far collected 241 samples which have been flown back for analysis,” he told reporters during a briefing on the status of COVID-19 containment efforts.
Mandera which is among four counties where cessation of movement has been imposed accounts for eight of the 647 reported coronavirus cases countrywide, 412 of which are active.
It is also the first region that reported the first place where people escaped from quarantine.
Similar mass tests have been ongoing in high risk areas within Nairobi and Mombasa amid an increased number of coronavirus infections.
The mass tests in Nairobi and Mombasa have revealed a high number of infections in Eastleigh and Old Town informing government’s decision to impose a cessation of movement in and out of the two neighbourhoods.
Kenya had recorded 30 coronavirus-linked deaths by May 9.
