The Kenyan government has turned away 25 truck drivers from neighbouring country Tanzania who tested positive for the novel Coronavirus at the Namanga border point.
Addressing the nation on Wednesday during the daily Covid-19 briefing, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Rashid Aman said the 25 include 23 Tanzanian nationals.
The other two include a Rwandese and a Ugandan national.
The CAS said the tests are conducted on the Tanzania soil and any driver who tests positive is denied entry into Kenya.
Dr Aman revealed this when he confirmed 22 new infections in Kenya and four deaths. This means that the cases in Kenya now stand at 737 and fatalities tally at 40.
The border points of entry are now a major threat to the fight against Covid-19 in the East African community with Tanzania’s response to the contagious disease attracting criticism.
Read: Kenya’s COVID-19 Cases Jump To 737 As 22 Patients Recover
Yesterday, Dr Aman said two Tanzanian truck drivers were turned back after testing positive for the coronavirus at the Isebania border point.
Tanzania has not released an official health update about the Coronavirus situation in the country since April 29, when the ministry of health revealed that the numbers stood at 480.
Reports indicate that the situation in the country is worrying with a high number of cases and deaths said to have been confirmed.
Before the country stopped giving updates, President John Pombe Magufuli said the cases in the country were exaggerated/inflated further terming imported testing kits as “faulty”.
On Wednesday, the United States of America government warned its citizens in Tanzania over the high risk of contracting the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the East African country.
In the health alert, the US embassy in Tanzania stated that the risk of contracting Covid-19 in Dar es Salaam is extremely high as all evidence points to exponential growth of the epidemic in the city and other regions in Tanzania.
According to the embassy, many hospitals in Dar es Salaam have been overwhelmed in recent weeks.
The embassy urged American nationals stuck in Tanzania to limit their movement as part of the measures to protect themselves from contracting the disease.
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