Siaya county official flown to Nairobi for Covid-19 treatment
The county executive tested positive for Covid-19 and and been isolating her self at home. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Her transfer came just a day after Governor Cornell Rasanga’s office barred all his staff from meeting him face-to-face after Ms Olute tested positive.
- The governor’s office instructed all county executives to work from home and conduct their departmental meetings virtually.
A Siaya County executive was on Wednesday evening flown to Nairobi for specialised treatment after she tested positive for Covid-19.
Education county executive committee member Mary Olute was moved to Bondo Sub-county Hospital on Tuesday from her home where she had been isolated.
Sources told the Nation that a team of doctors were dedicated to her at the county hospital.
She was transferred to Nairobi after she suffered a repeated bout of cough.
Her transfer came just a day after Governor Cornell Rasanga’s office barred all his staff from meeting him face-to-face after Ms Olute tested positive.
The governor’s office instructed all county executives to work from home and conduct their departmental meetings virtually.
Ms Olute is the first reported case of Covid-19 in Mr Rasanga's cabinet.
By Wednesday, Siaya had confirmed 55 Covid-19 cases.
The county director of communication Auscar Wambiya confirmed that Ms Olute tested positive for Covid-19 but declined to comment further on her condition.
"Because of privacy of the patient and her family I am not able to discuss the matter," he said.
Meanwhile, Kisii county government has also recorded a Covid-19 case.
Kisii deputy county secretary and his wife, who is a nurse offering critical care at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital, have tested positive.
The nurse attended to Ms Marianne Awuor, the Homa Bay County nurse who had Covid-19 and gave birth to a healthy baby a fortnight ago, while on oxygen support, but died Sunday.
The county Covid-19 response team on Tuesday evening said all contacts will be traced and isolated.
Some county employees have urged Governor James Ongwae to close the county offices as staff go for quarantine.
“This is because the positive cases have interacted with dozens of people including top county officials,” said a source.
The county official who has tested positive attended a high ranking meeting at Mocha hotel on Monday and has been interacting freely with other staff as well as residents.
The meeting on County Action Plan Against Violence Extremism was attended by top national and county government officials. Governor James Ongwae officially closed it on Tuesday.
Another function also presided over by Governor Ongwae at Kisii Agricultural Training Centre on Tuesday.
In the function, the Lave Victoria South Water Works Development Agency donated 10 water tanks which will help in promoting hygiene.
“We do not know why the officer showed up in the meeting yet he had not finished 14 days in quarantine,” said a source.
In Siaya, the department of water offices had earlier been closed after a driver tested positive.
Bondo Law Courts has scaled down its operations and is considering shutting down after five police officers tested positive, three from Bondo police station where an OCPD succumbed to Covid-19 on Monday last week. They are in isolation.
