Mass Covid-19 testing for all truck drivers

What you need to know:

  • Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said the decision to test transit cargo drivers was arrived at after a section of Kenyan drivers were confirmed positive.

  • Last week, five Kenyan drivers tested positive in Uganda — three entered the country through Malaba and two through the Busia border point.

The government has ordered targeted mass testing of truck drivers after it emerged that Kenya has been exporting Covid-19 to neighbouring countries.

This comes as the government confirmed 12 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of those who have tested positive to 355.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said the decision to test transit cargo drivers was arrived at after a section of Kenyan drivers were confirmed positive.

Last week, five Kenyan drivers tested positive in Uganda — three entered the country through Malaba and two through the Busia border point.

The decision by the Kenyan government comes at a time when Uganda is exploring the option of having the trucks coming into the country stopped at the border and then picked and driven by Ugandan drivers to their destination or to the next border point.

Uganda had initially opted to keep the numbers of the positive tests from neighbouring countries off its tally and deport the patients but was forced to backtrack and include them and provide treatment locally in accordance with World Health Organisation guidelines. The guidelines require that positive cases be treated in the country where they are identified and included in that country’s tally.