Mandera loses first patient to coronavirus

One person died of Covid-19 in Mandera Fridau, with authorities raising the alarm over the increase in new cases in the county.

Governor Ali Roba said a second patient is in critical condition and is undergoing treatment while another was tested and turned Covid-19 negative. The Covid-19 death is the first in the North Eastern County and the patient was buried Friday.

Mandera had managed to flatten the curve after 18 patients who had turned positive were discharged.

Mr Roba attributed the surge in new cases to the reopening of the counties previously under lockdown.

"Covid-19 is here with us and it is impacting our people. This is a call that we must exercise care. I am concerned that people have stopped following the rules of preventing the spread of the disease like wearing masks and social distancing," Mr Roba said, adding that Mandera is regarded a hotspot for Covid-19 due to its porous border with Somalia and Ethiopia.

Mandera stopped testing for Covid-19 in mid-June after it became very expensive for the county, the governor said.

“We were spending about Sh700,000 to charter a  plane to collect samples and we did it about six times which was expensive for us,” he said.

Mandera is set to have its own testing machines after the Ministry of Health and Kenya Medical Research Institute issued the gadgets to the devolved unit.

"The machines are being transported to Mandera and would be here in next two days," Mr Roba said Friday during a briefing.

Mandera County has a hospital bed capacity of 306 with 10 ICU beds and 6 HDU beds.