Busia county Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has raised concerns following the rise in the number of Corona virus cases in the county.
The governor who chaired a stakeholders meeting Tuesday at the Busia county referral hospital to chat the way forward, warned that if locals continue throwing precautions to the wind then the county was headed towards an upsurge of the virus, “In the last twenty four hours the county has recorded 67 new cases. This shows that things are not going well in our county,” said Ojaamong
According to the governor, so far the county has recorded 4947 cases, 4781 of which are local transmissions. Thirty one people have so far succumbed to the virus.
Matayos leads in the number of infections of 2725, Teso North coming second at 1417, Teso South is third with 450, Nambale fourth with 76 infections while Butula is fifth with 68 infections, Samia Sub County is sixth with 31 while Bunyala is seventh with 30 infections.
The high number of infections in Matayos and Teso North is attributed to the geographical location of the two sub counties which hosts two major border points of Busia and Malaba town.
Truck drivers who go through the two border points have been largely blamed for being super spreaders of the disease.
Governor Ojaamong has also revealed that 187 health workers have so far tested positive for Corona virus.
Others who attended the meeting included Deputy Governor who is also the acting CEC (County Executive Committee member) for health Moses Mulomi, Chief Officer in the health department Dr. Isaac Omeri and Busia county commissioner John Korir.
Korir revealed that 138,000 people have so far been tested out of which 5000 tested positive, “This gives us a 3.6% positivity rate as a county.” He said
He echoed governor’s sentiments by urging Busia county residents to strictly adhere to the ministry of health and World Health Organization (WHO) containment measures put in place.
Busia County is among 13 Lake Victoria region block that saw strict Covid-19 measures imposed on its citizens including 7pm to 4am curfew, closure of churches and banning of any form of gatherings last month.
Busia county borders Uganda which imposed strict measures including inter-district lockdowns after the country recorded an increase in Covid-19 cases more so of the new Indian Delta Variant.