Kilifi County is once again one of the sensitive points of this second Kenyan wave of Covid-19. Although there are no very serious cases and official deaths are on the fingers of the fingers, Governor Amason Kingi has spoken to the population, noting some concern and inviting people to follow rules and protocols, so as not to have to intervene with new restrictions.
"In the last three months, Kilifi County has seen a surge in COVID-19 infections. Initially, this new wave of infections was recorded in the sub counties of South Kilifi and North Kilifi, but now it has spread to the sub counties of Malindi and Magarini," said Kingi. "Since March 2020, we have recorded a total of 514 COVID-19 infections. It is worrying that in the last 3 months alone the County has recorded 404 cases, or 78% of total infections since March 2020. This, unfortunately, means that our curve has started to rise dramatically. Magarini and Malindi have emerged as the new COVID-19 infectious hotspots in the last three months, with Magarini recording 118 cases (i.e. 29% of total infections for the 3 months) and Malindi recording 86 cases (i.e. 21% of total infections for the 3 months)".
According to the Governor, the main sources of infection are common meeting places, workplaces, hotels and service points, especially markets and the transport sector.
"So far - continued Kingi - COVID-19 infections have affected all categories of our society, namely the general public (431 cases), county government officials (6), national government officials (11), county government health workers (24) and non-state health workers (6).  This means that, so far, a total of 30 county government officials have been infected. The risk of infection continues to increase day by day, hence the need to review our infection prevention strategies also within county government districts".
Kingi has therefore announced a downsizing of office operations to minimise contact between workers in all county departments. Only essential services will continue, but with minimal staffing.
"Staff whose services are flexible and can operate from their basic workstations can proceed in the same way, with the approval of their supervisors, while staff who will have to continue to work from their offices must always observe the following precautionary measures: Maintain a distance of 1.5 meters (1.5 meters) social distance, use masks, regularly detect and have their body temperatures detected and, in case of abnormal observations, the nearest health officials must be informed immediately. Washing hands with soap and disinfectants must be the priority. Last but not least, I advise the Public Health Services Unit to immediately carry out voluntary COVID-19 tests for all staff, starting with those working at County Headquarters".
Finally, Kingi announced that in the coming weeks there will be community awareness campaigns and more surveillance by the Public Health and Safety teams.
"We are at great risk of contracting the virus," concluded Kingi, "I would like to see all members of our community and local political leaders at all levels spend time raising awareness and persuading everyone to adhere to pandemic emergency protocols.