The government has rolled out mass testing for COVID-19, with 12,000 kits deployed for the first phase that will cover Nairobi, Mombasa, Mandera and Siaya counties.
Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi said mass testing exercise will be based on the risk of transmission identified by monitoring teams.
The CAS said 1000 testing kits have been deployed to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) where two employees have succumbed to Covid-19.
Other areas that have been identified for priority testing are Kibera slums, quarantine centres, hotels, isolation facilities and hospitals in Nairobi. The mass testing will be replicated in the other priority counties during the first phase.
“We are rolling out mass testing taking into consideration the risk profile of mass clusters. In total, the first phase of mass testing will see approximately 12,000 testing kits deployed to target areas in the next few days,” said the CAS on Tuesday.
Mwangangi noted that since the virus is spreading to the counties, it is in order for the government to re-strategise and prepare its citizens for the worst.
Information on other areas will be released in the coming days.
The Health Ministry announced eight new coronavirus cases out of 694 samples tested, bringing the country’s total to 216. 41 have recovered while nine have passed.
