City Hall mulls aerial fumigation to control virus spread

The Nairobi City County government is considering using aerial fumigation to help in the fight against the spread of the deadly coronavirus in the capital.

Nairobi Health Services Executive Hitan Majevdia said this method will help in fumigating the entire county in a short time.

"The best and the fastest way to fumigate is through aerial fumigation. I will suggest this to my seniors to allow us do aerial spraying in a day or two. This will drastically reduce the spread of the coronavirus," said Mr Majevdia.

CONFIRMED CASES

This comes at a time when Nairobi County has been confirmed as the one which is leading in the number of confirmed cases at 28 with Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe pointing out that all the estates in the county have come into contact with the positive cases.

At the same time, City Hall public health officials have intensified the fight against the spread of the deadly coronavirus in the county with public screening and fumigation set to be done in more sub-counties.

County Deputy Director of Public Health Wilson Langat said they will today (Monday) head to Westlands and Embakasi East sub-counties as the fumigation enters its third week with more than 12,500 residents already screened.

COVER ALL SUB-COUNTIES

He explained that the target is to cover all the 17 sub-counties in Nairobi with the main target being areas with high population density.

“On Monday, the fumigation exercise enters week three and our team will head to Westlands and Embakasi East sub-counties. We will try to cover almost all the 17 sub-counties but our main targets are the places where people gather in masses,” said Mr Langat.

The public health officer said in Westlands, they will be focusing on areas around malls and their surroundings.

BUSY STREETS

During the weekend, the public health officers in collaboration with the Ministry of Health fumigated busy streets and business premises in Eastleigh, Buruburu and Korogocho.

Several markets in Nairobi including Gikomba, Muthurwa, Burma, Wakulima and City Market have been fumigated.

Meanwhile, Governor Mike Sonko called on Nairobi residents and traders to cooperate with the health officials as they fumigate estates and markets as it will help reduce the spread of the virus. He also encouraged people to stay at home.

“We have to ensure that all the stages, open air markets and public places are fumigated as we strive to speed up the spraying of all estates in the county,” said Sonko.