Alarm over infections surge in Siaya County

Concerns have been raised over the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Siaya County over the past month.

At least 200 health workers and some politicians have recently contracted the virus. Health Executive Dismas Wakla termed the trend as worrying and urged locals not to lower their guard.

“Last week, we had at least 200 health workers contracting the virus,” he said. According to statistics, Alego Usonga and Gem constituencies are leading in the increased numbers.

“Statistics from Ugunja Sub-county show that the positivity rate is on the rise. One of the reasons is that the Omicron variant is highly contagious,” Mr Wakla added.

County Immunization Coordinator Joshua Ondiege said the fifth wave has seen a spike in infections. According to the Ministry of Health, as at January 6, Siaya had 146 new positive cases. It had the second-highest number of cases after Nairobi, which recorded 955 while Nakuru and Nyeri came in third and fourth with 133 and 105 cases respectively.

On January 5, Siaya had a positivity rate of 35 percent, recording 149 new cases, again coming second after Nairobi, which had 861.

On January 4 , the county recorded 221 new cases, while on January 3, it had 77 people testing positive.

The worrying trend comes even as neighbouring counties of Busia, Kisumu and Vihiga are recording low figures.

Mr Ondiege, however, pointed out that Siaya had surpassed its target of vaccinating 115,000 people by the end of December last year.

“We managed to meet the target set for our county by the Ministry of Health. We have vaccinated 128,000 people so far against our target of 115,000. We still call on people to get the jab that is readily available in all public health facilities,” said Ondiege.

He noted that patients admitted to isolation centres with severe symptoms are those who have not been vaccinated.

“All the patients who are admitted have not been vaccinated, and this shows how important this jab is for the people. Even the deaths that we are recording are those that are not vaccinated, so people should get the jab,” said Ondiege.

On getting the booster shots, he advised locals to get any type of the available vaccines. He attributed the high positivity rate to lax behaviour during the festive season.

“People are behaving as if the virus is no longer with us; there is no social distancing observed, people are not wearing masks  ... This is the reason our positivity rate is high,” he said.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, 4,200 people have tested positive in the county, while 120 people have lost their lives.

There has been laxity in observing the preventive measures put in place by the Health ministry, with overcrowding in public service vehicles, churches, schools and other public places.

A majority of local residents do not wear face masks, even as most people assume that vaccination will protect them from contracting the virus.