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Kenya: Why Kenya’s Covid State Is a Ticking Time Bomb

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4 years ago

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Kenya’s Covid-19 testing rate has gone down, with officials acknowledging a shortage of kits and a shift to targeted testing.

In targeted testing, only people with symptoms of Covid-19 and those who present themselves at hospitals are tested, said Dr Francis Kuria, the director of public health in the Ministry of Health.

Compared with other countries in the region, such as Uganda and Rwanda, Kenya lags in testing for Covid-19, as the highest it has recorded is about 8,000 a day.

False picture

This, experts warn, could provide a false picture and limit knowledge on new cases and trends in infections.

While Dr Kuria understands the concerns, he said the government was working to boost testing.

The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa), he said, had received a consignment of about 650,000 rapid antigen test kits on Monday and distribution was trickling down to counties as from Wednesday.

“I know there has been an issue and we are now trying to distribute more testing kits to counties because they have gone down, particularly the rapid antigen test kits because more antigen testing has been embraced in counties,” he told the Nation yesterday.

“In that regard we are probably going to see higher numbers coming next week.”

There have been fluctuations this month in the number of samples taken for testing, with daily highs of more than 5,000 and lows of about 2,000.

“If you look at the seven-day average, the numbers have not dropped that much,” Dr Kuria said.

Dr Kuria also explained why the government dropped contact tracing as an intervention measure. He said “it would not make public health sense,” as the respiratory disease is now widespread.

“Every pandemic has phases. By the time you have widespread Covid-19 transmission, we replace contact tracing with public health interventions,” he said.

“By the time we have widespread transmission, contact tracing loses value. We only trace close family contacts and rare cases like when there is a new variant as was the case in Kisumu.”

He rejected claims that testing kits could be stuck at the port in Mombasa.

“Test kits arrive by air. I have not seen those that arrive by sea and if there are, I have not heard about it,” he said.