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City set for major clean-up amid cholera battle


The national government will deploy 5,000 youth to collect garbage in Kisumu, Kwale, Nairobi and Kilifi amid efforts to control the cholera outbreak in some parts of the country.

Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Sicily Kariuki made the announcement at a function in Jacaranda Hotel, which complied with the Ministry of Health directive to close until it tested its workers.

She asked county governments to invest in garbage collection, saying it was a devolved function.

“We cannot be intervening every time the situation deteriorates,” said Ms Kariuki.

CHOLERA OUTBREAKS

Since the beginning of the year, Kenya has experienced cholera outbreaks with an ongoing epidemic in Garissa and Nairobi counties. Some 1,216 cases, including 14 deaths, have been reported this year.

Saying hotel closures were not punitive, Health CS Cleopa Mailu however warned that there is no room for anyone to defy the directives.

“It is for the wellbeing of the public,” said Dr Mailu.

He also promised to issue guidelines on outsourcing of food, which was cited as one of the drivers of the current wave of cholera.

Machakos County government has temporarily closed 11 hotels in Kangundo Sub-County for failure to meet public health standards.

HIGH ALERT

This came few days after the governor, Dr Alfred Mutua, directed all county public health officers to be on a high alert to deal with any suspicious case should it arise.

Speaking on Thursday to the Nation on phone, the county’s Health chief officer, Dr Jacks Nthanga, said the hotels were closed for one week.

But he dismissed fears among residents that the closure came after a resident at Kakuyuni in the sub-county contracted cholera.

Dr Nthanga said they acted even though the county has not had a confirmed case of cholera.