The government has handed over rapid response vehicles to 13 Counties to boost the fight against Covid-19. The Counties that are set to benefit include Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos, Nyeri, Migori, Busia, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, Taita Taveta, Elgeyo Marakwet and Kisii. Speaking to the press on Monday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said the vehicles will boost surveillance, “Transport has been one of the key challenges identified, especially accessing the rural areas as the government works to provide quality healthcare,” he said. They have been procured by the Covid-19 Health Emergency Project in the Health Ministry at a cost of Kshs 200 million.
He said all Counties are supposed to have rapid response contact tracing teams, with 229 teams present across the country, “Contact tracing is a critical tool for containing the pandemic through interruption of the transmission chain by early detection and isolating the cases,” he said.
A web based application linked to the Kenya electronic medical records has also been rolled out. The CS added that the national response and contact tracing team is currently conducting training for the rapid response teams across the country on the usage of web based tools and data management.