The East African Community Secretariat is in the process of deploying mobile laboratories and Coronavirus test kits to all EAC Partner States.
Each Partner State will receive a four wheel drive vehicle fitted with laboratory and ICT equipment, as well as all the necessary consumables for a fully functional laboratory with the capacity to conduct tests for Ebola and the coronavirus in addition to other pathogens.
The EAC Secretariat has also put in place a Regional Coordination Committee (RCC) with Risk Communication and community engagement Sub-committees to oversee the regional COVID–19 response.
The RCC has already set in motion a number of activities to secure the EAC Organs and Institutions, and support the Partner States in battling the virus, a statement issued in Nairobi from the EAC Secretariat has disclosed.
Meanwhile, the Secretariat will convene an Extra-Ordinary Meeting for the Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health via Video Conference on Tuesday to deliberate on the COVID-19 Pandemic and augment containment strategies to prevent and stop any further spread of the disease in the region.
The meeting comes in the wake of confirmation of Corona Virus Disease cases in four out of six EAC Partner states.
Some EAC Partner States have implemented strategies to address the outbreak at national level such as the suspension of all face to face meetings, closure of all schools and tertiary training institutions, closure of their respective air space and borders as well as implementation of quarantine on arrival for travellers from high risk countries due to the outbreak.
The four EAC Partner States that have reported cases of the coronavirus are Kenya with 16 confirmed cases, Rwanda 17, Tanzania 12 and Uganda one case.
Burundi and South Sudan are yet to report any cases.
Two countries neighbouring the EAC, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia have each confirmed one case.
JK/abj/APA