Migori Governor Okoth Obado, in a video shared on May 4, called for the closure of the Kenya-Tanzania border until the Covid-19 pandemic was contained.
While addressing the media, the governor lamented over the apparent laidback approach taken by Tanzanian authorities on their side of the border, which has left residents exposed to the deadly virus.
The county boss called on the national government for help in ensuring that the borders were properly manned.
"Our Covid-19 Emergency Response Team has recommended that we close down our border with Tanzanian indefinitely," he stated.
The governor further explained that his government in collaboration with the community was actively tracking down any individuals who may have sneaked in from Tanzania as well as anyone that may have come in contact with the county's first 2 confirmed positive cases.
"I also want to make a special appeal to our national government to ensure that we completely stop the entry of Tanzanians into our territory.
"If there are Kenyans who are stuck in Tanzania and they want to come back to our territory, let them do the simple thing of testing themselves and presenting to us a Covid-19 test certificate indicating that they are free from coronavirus," he announced.
On May 2, Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi announced that 24 individuals had tested positive with two being from Migori County.
Obado, in his latest statement, further elaborated that the 2 cases were the first positive cases in his county and that both had come in from Tanzania recently, adding that they were currently isolated at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) Migori.
"Both cases have some history of travel from Tanzania. One of the ladies travelled from Dodoma, and the other, who is a mother with a Covid-19 positive baby travelled from Dar es Salaam.
"We need to lay more emphasis on safeguarding our borders and ensure that we report any new entrants into our communities," he reiterated.
Migori holds a special place geographically because of its close proximity to Uganda via Lake Victoria through Migingo Island and it's land and lake border with Tanzania at Isebania.
