Truck drivers who have been camping on the Malaba, Webuye highway due to a major traffic snarl-up stretching for over 50 km can now breathe a sigh of relieve. This is after the government cleared 4 trucks that were blocking the Malaba border entry point. The drivers have been stuck in the traffic for seven days now, protesting over delayed testing by the Uganda authorities. EAC CS Adan Mohammed has said that government officials at the point have been instructed to work on a 24-hour basis to ease movement.
The government has dismissed claims that the situation had been caused over complaints of testing protocols. According to Transport CS James Macharia the heavy traffic was caused by some three drivers who reportedly incited others cause the melee at the Namanga border post. Malaba is the main entry to the Great Lakes region that accounts for 30 per cent of the cargo that comes from Mombasa.
The government this month directed all truck drivers to get tested for COVID-19, 48 hours before departure, after which they will present their COVID-19 negative certificates at the border crossing points.
Meanwhile the country’s COVID-19 cases have surpassed the 1,300 mark. The number of Covid-19 infections in the country now stands at 1,348 after 62 more positive cases. The new cases are from the 2,293 samples tested in the last 24 hours with 59 of these being Kenyans and 3 foreign nationals, all aged between 6-64 years.
The infections are distributed in various counties across the country namely; Nairobi (23), Mombasa (16), Kwale (8), Kiambu (6), Kajiado (6), and Kitui (3). In Nairobi, the cases were recorded in Umoja (6), Kibra (6), Eastleigh (3), Dagoretti North (2), Lang’ata (2), Westlands (2), Starehe (1), Embakasi East (1). Mombasa’s coronavirus cases were confirmed in Changamwe (9), Jomvu (3), Nyali (3), Mvita (1) while in Kwale; Msambweni (4), Lungalunga (4), and Kiambu; Lari (5), Ruiru (1).
Three patients have been discharged from hospital after making full recovery bringing the total number of Covid-19 recoveries in the country to 405. Kenya has so far tested 64,264 samples since the disease broke out in the country mid-March.
The Ministry of health has also announced that the mobile laboratory installed in Namanga has now eased testing, and reduced waiting time from four days to only five hours.
“I want to confirm that the mobile laboratory we set up in Namanga is already functioning. We hope the presence of the laboratory in Namanga should be able to deal with the flow of truckers across the border,” Said Dr. Rashid Aman.