The government had announced new measures aimed at combating the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement released by the Health CS Mutahi Kagwe on Thursday, April 2, he announced that the measures had been necessitated by the newly recorded cases of COVID-19, leading to the numbers rising to 21.
One of the measures Kagwe announced was that starting Thursday, all bodaboda, matatu and tuk-tuk drivers and passengers are to begin wearing masks and issuing them to passengers.
He stated that the reason for such measures was because the number of cases had risen to an unprecedented level and action needed to be taken as soon as possible.
He announced that the government had begun mass production of masks, and would distribute them to the counties through the county governments and chairs of the various transport sectors, to matatu drivers and bodaboda operators.
He also announced that thermal guns would be distributed to traffic police officers to be used in discovering and arresting coronavirus cases in traffic jams and roadblocks before they spread further.
Kagwe also directed that the hiring of 5,000 skilled health workers begin immediately and be finalized within the next seven days.
He also directed counties that have submitted their requirements for health officials and had advertized the jobs had until Wednesday, April 8, to complete the process.
He also added that hospitals that had given their requirements were required to continue hiring and within seven days, they will be required to have hired an additional 1,000 health workers.
Kagwe informed the country that an additional over 6,000 workers would be injected into the system to join the fight against COVID 19.
He also directed that County Commissioners, headteachers of the schools selected as quarantine facilities and cooks to start planning ahead for any eventuality depending on the population of the county an additional 1,000 bedding facilities in the schools and hospitals.
He reiterated that the government still discouraged mass movement of people, especially those moving from Nairobi to the countryside and insisted that if need be, the government would step in to stop Kenyans from travelling.
He indicated that the only people to move up and down are cargo people, mostly those carrying food and supplies.
