Covid-19: Each county to have own containment strategy

The government is now focusing on different Covid-19 interventions for different counties based on trends of transmission.

Health acting Director General Patrick Amoth said the change of strategy will help in flattening the curve.

Amoth said the government employed the strategy after it emerged that a county such as Kiambu has overtaken Mombasa in the number of infection cases, while some counties have just a few cases of the virus recorded so far.

On Monday Kenya recorded 245 more Covid-19 cases, bringing the  total number of cases to 30,365.

The distribution of the cases by counties is as follows; Nairobi 149, Kiambu 23, Kajiado 14, Mombasa 10, Garissa and Machakos nine each, Nyeri and Narok seven each, Busia four, Kilifi three, Laikipia, Murang’a and Kitui  with two cases each while Kisumu, Uasin Gishu,  Kwale and Tharaka Nithi have one case each.

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As for the cases in the sub counties are distributed as follows; In Nairobi the 149 cases are in Lang’ata (25), Kasarani (14), Embakasi East (12), Embakasi South (11), Makadara (11), Dagoretti North and Embakasi West with 10 cases each, Roysambu nine and Ruaraka and Starehe have eight cases each. 

Others are Embakasi North, Kibra and Westlands with six cases each, Dagoretti South four, Embakasi Central, Kamukunji and Mathare with three cases.In Kiambu the 23 cases are in Limuru six , Ruiru five, Kikuyu four, Thika three, Kabete two, Juja, Kiambaa and Kiambu Town have one case each.

In Kajiado the 14 cases are in Kajiado North six, Kajiado Central five and Kajiado East three while in Mombasa, the 10 cases are in Changamwe and Kisauni with three cases each, Jomvu two while Likoni and Mvita have one case each.

In Garissa, the nine cases are in the town while nine cases in Machakos are in Athi River with six cases, Machakos Town two and Matungulu one case.In Nyeri, the seven cases are in Nyeri Central and Tetu with three cases each and Mathira East with one case, while the seven cases in Narok are all in Narok East.

In Busia, all the four cases are in Teso North, while in Kilifi the three cases are in Kilifi South with two cases and Malindi with one case.

In Laikipia the two cases are in Laikipia East and in Murang’a the two cases are in Maragua while the two cases in Kitui are in Kitui West.

The case in Kisumu is in Kisumu East, the case in Uasin Gishu is in Soy and the case in Kwale is in Msambweni. The case in Tharaka Nithi is in Chuka.

“Flattening of the curve will vary from county to county. Remember the evolution of the pandemic is not uniform. Now Kiambu has overtaken Mombasa in the infection rate,” Amoth said.

“Looks like the curve in Mombasa is flattening, the curve in Nairobi is still on an upward trajectory and of Kiambu is now quickly following the upward trajectory. Yet counties like Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot have single digits figures,” he added.

The DG noted that the difference in transmission trends means that what will work in one county might not work for another, adding that with thorough contact tracing, isolation and case management, it is easier to stamp out transmission of the virus counties with few cases.

“Going forward we are going to deploy different interventions for different modes or epidemiological trends of transmission. It will not be a one size fit all,” he said.

The DG added: “The kind of interventions you put in Nairobi will be totally different from the ones put in Elgeyo Marakwet or Lamu or Samburu where cases are still very few.”

He however noted that it is too early to tell on the flattening of the curve, since samples collected vary from day to day or week to week.

For instance, most of the samples were coming from government institutions yet such institutions are always closed on weekends, hence less samples collected over the weekend.

The ministry mainly collects samples from contacts and those who meet a case definition criteria during the weekend hence the numbers go down.