The government will use passports and identification numbers to track down persons who will issue wrong contact details during Covid-19 testing exercises.
These details, as noted by the Ministry of Health officials, are aimed at aiding contact tracing as the country’s Covid-19 numbers hit 4,374 after 117 more people tested positive.
Saturday Standard has learnt that this method is already being implemented at entrances and exits of the locked down counties.
The details will now be mandatory in Covid-19 testing as the government seeks to ensure individuals who test positive are put in isolation.
Wrong details
The move has been informed by challenges the ministry has faced in tracing positive people who issue wrong phone numbers during testing.
Previously, health officials were not keen on taking down these details, with many insisting on phone numbers and email addresses to inform those tested of their status and subsequent isolation if they turn positive.
Health Director General Patrick Amoth noted at one point, 140 positive cases could not be traced because they left wrong contact details.
Most of the individuals, the Dr Amoth said yesterday during the daily update, were found to be residents of Eastleigh, which was once a hotspot.
“Some of the them were refugees so they feared disclosing their real contacts because security officials could then catch up with them,” said Amoth.
He, however, said tat so far, the 140 had been traced and released from the data base after completing the 14-day monitoring period.
The Dr Amoth however, said due to an agreement reached between Kenya through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and partner countries in the region, nationalities of persons who test positive will not be revealed.
Imported Covid-19 cases in the country are spread across 15 nationalities with majority of the cases being truck drivers from Tanzania; a situation that caused a stand-off between the two countries.
“It is something they requested, as a ministry we have to respect it,” he said.
Of the 117 who tested positive yesterday, five are foreigners.
Contact tracing, as noted by Dr Amoth, has become a challenge due to the already established community infections in the country.
The challenge, he noted, is even harder in densely populated areas like Mathare and Kibra slums which are among hot spots in Nairobi.
Kibra is still among areas in Nairobi where more cases are being reported. Among the cases reported yesterday, eight were from Kibra.
But while these informal settlements have been marked as hotspots, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said urban and peri-urban areas are the high-risk.
Hurlingham, Westlands and Kilelehswa are in this list.