Concern as Nakuru records 10 new Covid-19 cases daily
A boda boda rider carrying a pillion passenger not wearing a mask in Nakuru City. Health authorities have warned that there is a steady increase of Covid-19 cases.
Residents of Nakuru have lowered their guard by not wearing face masks and not avoiding large crowds, and now authorities are warning that the region is experiencing a steady rise in Covid-19 cases.
Nakuru County acting chief of Public Health Daniel Wainaina Ndung'u says the number of new cases has risen steadily.
"The positivity rate and the number of new admissions have in the last four weeks been on the increase. Generally, the compliance is not good," said Dr Ndung'u.
"By Saturday last week we had 10 admissions – seven in Nakuru and three in Naivasha. Unfortunately, one patient succumbed to the disease in Nakuru."
He said the county was prepared for any surge and has increased its Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds from 24 to 44.
"We have a new wing in Naivasha that has a total of 20 new ICU beds.
The good thing is that the private hospitals have also increased their ICU beds and the entire county is approaching 100 ICU beds capacity in total," said Dr Ndung'u.
He said residents were not getting vaccinated and the county had not hit its target of administering 1.2 million doses.
"The vaccination uptake is not impressive. For the last one month we are hardly achieving 1,000 new vaccinations per day," said Dr Ndung'u, adding that "the percentage of fully immunised people in the county is approaching 50 per cent".
He urged residents who have received one dose to get their second doses, while those who have completed their doses should get booster shots.
"The situation we're seeing on the ground indicates there is a rapid rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the county and this calls for joint efforts from the health department and residents to prevent more cases," said Dr Ndung'u.
He said the health department is using community health volunteers to urge people in the community to come out and get the jab, and officials are conducting community outreach in the 55 wards.
"We're also engaging residents through social media platforms and community radios to urge them to come for booster shots," said Dr Ndung'u.
He said the training of new staff is going on to ensure they are updated on new information on Covid-19.
