EDITORIAL: Step up preparedness - Business Daily

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EDITORIAL: Step up preparedness

Thursday, March 5, 2020 0:01

By EDITORIAL

The move to block direct flights between the Kenyan coast and parts of Italy in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak is an important step in the measures that Kenyan authorities are taking to protect the public from the disease.

However, enhanced surveillance of all arrivals still remains a critical factor in keeping Kenya free of the disease, especially considering that Nairobi is an important hub that connects East Africa to the rest of the world and cannot afford the reputational risk of reporting confirmed cases of the disease.

Still and all, private companies can and should join in educating their workers as well as the public on how to stay safe from the disease, how to manage it in the event that it is reported and how to deal with the consequences of infection from a public health and safety perspective.

The idea of requiring suspected cases to self-quarantine should also be discouraged at all costs considering its impracticability as well as the dangers that should unregulated requirements pose.

Finally, all workplaces ought to be encouraged to invest in sanitisers, masks and other medical equipment that can help their employees in preventing infection, responding to reported cases and managing panic, to ensure that their workers have both the knowledge and tools they need to stay safe.