A total of 53 truck drivers have tested positive to coronavirus on Kenyan borders in the last 24 hours, Health CAS Dr Rashid Aman has said.
Speaking at Afya House on Monday, Dr Aman said 51 of the truck drivers who tested positive are from Tanzania while two of them are from Burundi.
He said they were all directed to go back to Tanzania.
This comes 48 hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the closure of borders with Tanzania citing that there was an upsurge in the number of infections reported at the border points.
However, Uhuru’s closure order exempted cargo trucks but warned that any driver entering Kenya must be COVID-19 free.
On Sunday, Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli seemed to mock Uhuru’s directive.
He said that the directive was sabotaging the economies of both Kenya and Tanzania.
“I respected my neighbours since we are surrounded by more than eight countries. If you close, it means you are sabotaging their economies,” argued Magufuli.
Dr Aman added that 25 more people tested positive in the last 24 hour bringing the total number of coronavirus cases to 912.
A total of 1,139 samples were tested. Hitherto, the Ministry of Health has tested 44,851 samples.
Of the new cases, 23 are Kenyans and two are Somali nationals. Twenty-three are male and two are female. They are aged between 22-50 years.
Kajiado has six cases, Mombasa (5), Kiambu (3), Nairobi (3), Kwale (3), Taita Taveta (2), Garissa (2) and Meru (1).
Garissa, Meru and Taita Taveta are the latest counties to report COVID-19 cases. 23 counties have so far been affected.
Another batch of 22 patients has been discharged bringing the total number of recovered cases to 336. No deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. They remain at
