Coronavirus: Cross-border spread of coronavirus worries East African states

12 Mai 2020

Nairobi, Kenya, May 12 (Infosplusgabon) - The cross-border transmission of the highly infectious coronavirus disease in East Africa has pushed new cases to 15 people in Kenya, bringing the total nationwide tally to 715, a health ministry official said on Tuesday.

Health Ministry Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said 15 people, including a Rwandan national, tested positive for the virus out of the 978 samples tested.

Three people died from the virus in the coastal city of Mombasa, bringing the total number of those who have died from disease to 36 people, Aman said.

Aman said the borders across the East African nation were porous but the security forces were doing their best to control movement across the borders.

He said some cross border traders were taking advantage of the difficulties in curbing the movement of people across the borders to cross. "There are people who still use some of these porous borders. We are now focusing on upscaling the level of security at these borders,” Aman told reporters during a news conference.

The health authorities in the East African region have been battling with the high number of cases imported from truck drivers transporting essential goods.

New cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Migori, the western Kenya region, where villagers were reportedly infected by a person who crossed from Tanzania, using an illegal crossing points.

On Tuesday, five people tested positive for coronavirus in Migori, near the border with Tanzania, raising concerns about the cross border transmission of the virus.

Other regions in Kenya's north Eastern region have also reported cases linked to cross-border transmission from Somalia.

“We continue to actively enforce contact tracing which has proved to be very effective in identifying those who have come into contact with infected persons,” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said during a virtual meeting of the East African Community (EAC) on Tuesday.

The leaders met to discuss the continued free movement of goods and the management of cross-border spread of Coronavirus, which were the top agenda at the meeting of the EAC Heads of State and Government.

The Heads of State expressed satisfaction with measures taken so far by regional governments in managing Coronavirus and thanked the EAC Secretariat as well as the Council of Ministers for ensuring the region is able to minimize cross-border spread of the virus while ensuring uninterrupted movement of goods.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/GVB/GABON2020

© Copyright  Infosplusgabon