The government, through the Ministry of Health, has announced plans to carry out a drill as it heightens its preparedness for the increasing threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Speaking at the Mbagathi Hospital on Thursday, March 12, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe disclosed that the drill would be carried out on Sunday, March 15 at the facility.
While advising the public to stay calm when they hear ambulance sirens, the CS specified that the exercise would begin at 11:00 a.m.
The drill will simulate a real case of a COVID-19 infection in the country and how health officers should respond.
"I will say here today that on Sunday at 11 O'clock we shall be carrying out a simulation of a real case at the Mbagathi Hospital.
"I do not want when the ambulances start whirling away for people to think that we have a real situation," he stated.
Since the breakout was reported worldwide in December 2019, Kenya has never recorded any positive case of the disease that has claimed over 4,000 lives worldwide.
"Coronavirus(COVID19) is a respiratory disease affecting the world. There are no cases in Kenya. It spreads via a cough or sneeze," warned the ministry through a text message circulated countrywide.
More than 100,000 people have been infected with the virus prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare it a global pandemic after affecting more than 85 countries.
For a disease to be declared a pandemic, it has to have spread globally. A pandemic is judged by how widely it has spread and not necessarily how deadly the disease is.
A statement by the Council of Governors (CoG) disclosed that 14 counties had been identified as high-risk regions including those hosting Kenya's main entry points.
CoG's health committee chair Governor Mohammed Kuti noted that out of the country's 47 counties, only 23 were aptly prepared to deal with the disease.
