Medics hunt for over 50 COVID-19 patient contacts

By Olandason Wanyama
Medics in Moroto and Napak districts are hunting for over 50 people believed to have come into contact with a Kenyan
national, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

Sikolastika Namei, 42, together with two other men, tested positive for coronavirus in Karamoja's high-risk Amudat
border district. They had been in quarantine for 14 days.

Reports indicate that Namei entered Karamoja through Amudat border post, but security was able to get her.

The trio was transferred to Moroto Regional Referral Hospital isolation centre, but on Wednesday, Namei escaped.
She is believed to have gone to Moroto's commercial hub, Camp Swahili restaurant, a yet to be identifi ed pork joint
and Nadunget trading centre, before she was picked and returned to Kenya.

Speaking during a district task force meeting in Moroto on Friday, the District Health Offi cer, Charles Omuddu
Onyang, said they had embarked on hunting over 50 people who may have come into contact with her.

"We have already got four people and are in quarantine at Nadunget Seed Secondary School, located 10km from Moroto town. Onyang said the numbers are likely to overwhelm them and that the centre is in need of blankets, mattresses and beds. On feeding, he asked those quarantined to expect only posho and beans because they cannot afford what some patients eat in their homes.

Information obtained by the New Vision indicates that Namei had spent a night without food, which forced her escape and go for a meal in a yet to be identified restaurant in Moroto town and later boarded a motorbike to Nadunget, where she visited a pork joint.

Since, it was late, it is said she spent some time partying with residents, before retiring to sleep in the area.
On Thursday morning, she covered another 12km on foot via Dry lands headquarters on her way to the popular elite Lotome sub-county, where she was intercepted near the trading centre.

The Napak Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Hajji Kadunabi Lubega, said the ditrict is hunting for people who came into contact with Namei.

"It is true, we got her in Napak and quickly called the relevant authorities,' he said, adding that messages on social
media had helped them a lot and many people were on the lookout. "The sand miners who saw her alerted us in time." Peter Ken Lochap, the RDC Moroto, appealed to development partners to consider supporting the district, saying the sh165m disbursed for COVID-19 fight was no more.