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Eight patients were taken to a Kisumu hospital after they were suspected to be suffering from cholera. They were...

Eight patients were taken to a Kisumu hospital after they were suspected to be suffering from cholera. They were from Nyalenda B, Dunga and Kajulu Hills in Ongadi area. Kisumu medical officer of health Rose Obara yesterday said medical workers were carrying out laboratory tests to ascertain the health status of the eight.

“We have not been able to isolate cholera from the tests that we have conducted so far. But we are carrying out further tests,” she said.

Acting chief public health officer Gradus Warindi said should cholera be confirmed, the municipality will take adequate measures, including banning some food outlets from operating.

Mr Danstan Makokha, a member of the municipality’s communicable diseases response team, said they visited all the water sources in Nyalenda on Monday and chlorinated them. They also took samples for further analysis.

In Nairobi, Public Health and Sanitation minister Beth Mugo said the death toll from the cholera outbreak now stood at 89 countrywide.

Speaking in her Afya House office in Nairobi, the minister described the outbreak as an “emergency”.

“I would like to make an appeal to MPs and other leaders to join my ministry in creating awareness by urging local communities to observe strict hygiene measures at all times to keep the disease at bay,” she said.

The ministry has received Sh22 million from the World Health Organisation to hire temporary medical workers to tackle the disease in Laisamis, Moyale, Isiolo and other areas.

In Mombasa, the municipal council has started rehabilitating drainage systems in key markets to contain a cholera outbreak that has claimed three people in the district and 86 others countrywide.

The Kongowea wholesale market, which has more than 5,000 traders, was the first to be cleaned up on Monday.

“We are determined to improve the sanitary conditions of all markets and public areas to contain the cholera outbreak. Council workers have been deployed to all markets to rid them of filth,” Mr Otieno said.

Mayor Ahmed Mohdhar said the cholera outbreak has been brought under control after the council intensified its clean-up campaigns in public places. Mr Mohdhar, his deputy, Mr John Mcharo, and several councillors took lunch at a kiosk in the town to allay public fears about the risk of contracting the disease, which is spread by contaminated water or food.

A health official from Malindi said the disease has now been contained in the district where six patients are undergoing treatment.