AfricaPress-Tanzania: TANZANIA and Kenya have intensified surveillance as the Coronavirus cases shot to 47 within the East African Community (EAC) partner states, by yesterday.
Arusha Regional Commissioner, Mr Mrisho Gambo, had by yesterday afternoon been locked in a long meeting with health and immigration officers manning the otherwise busy Namanga.
A source privy to the meeting hinted to this paper of a soon to be reached resolution of restricting entry of non-Tanzanians through the border.
This comes as Kenya started implementing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive of restricting entry of foreigners into the East African nation.
Authorities at the border had for the better part of last week stepped up surveillance in screening travellers and businessmen passing through the border.
A visit by ‘Daily News’ on the border point at the weekend established long queues of travellers awaiting to be screened and cleared by health officials as the region is coming to terms with the spread of the deadly virus.
An Assistant Manager of Customs with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) in Namanga, Mr Paul Kamukulu confided to the ‘africa-press’ of the high demand of sanitizers and chlorinated water at the point of entry and exit, due to the influx of people crossing the border post.
“We are happy that we are coping with the number of people crossing the border even though the demand is still high as we wouldn’t take anything to chance,” he said.
The TRA official underscored the importance of sanitizing hands, saying one was likely to get infected when covering the face than having sanitized the hands.
“The good thing is that most of the travellers are knowledgeable and conscious about the dangers posed by Coronavirus,” he added. However, some of passengers plying the two entry points took issue with the snail-paced screening witnessed at the Tanzanian point.
Mr Joseph Mollel, a Tanzanian travelling to Kenya, made his feelings known on the slow procedure of clearing passengers at the Tanzanian entry point.
“That these officers are overwhelmed is an open secret, the only remedy is to add the health officials for screening,” he suggested.
A similar procedure had been witnessed on the Kenyan side, with the border officials in the neighbouring country stepping up health surveillance at the country’s entry and exit point.
“We are very alert with the threat; there will be thorough screening of passengers throughout the week,” quipped a Manager in Charge of Kenya Revenue Authority(KRA) who requested for anonymity as she was not authorised to speak to the Press.
This writer witnessed a Tahmeed Coach, a Tanzania bound bus and two other Shuttles heading to Arusha from Nairobi parked for almost four hours as they waited for their passengers to board.
Several meters from the otherwise busy border post, proprietors of Sarafina Garden Hotel are feeling the pinch as the deadly virus has locked them out from their esteemed patrons from Kenya.
Ms Anna Nko, a waiter at Sarafina Garden Hotel confided to this paper that the lodge would always be full of customers from as far as Kisumu County, until the deadly virus came knocking.
“It wouldn’t be this quiet, a good number of Kenyans prefer this hotel whenever crossing the border, but this hasn’t been the case lately,” she said.
Burundi and South Sudan are the only East African countries that were yet to record any Covid-19 case.
