Kenyan public offices face disruption due to COVID-19

Key Kenyan government offices have witnessed disruption in day to day work as dozens of employees test positive for COVID-19, local media reported Thursday.

Kenya's National Treasury, Public Service Commission and Information Ministry are among those affected, The Standard reported.

At the Treasury in the capital Nairobi, 10 employees tested positive.

"Towards this end, we have requested the Ministry of Health to conduct testing for all staff of National Treasury. The testing will commence on July 14 at 9 am and will go on for three days. They will test 200 cases every day," Treasury Principal Administrative Secretary Amos Gathecha said.

The Ministry of Lands headquarters were also shut down for two weeks in June.

Some 11,252 infections of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Kenya so far, while 209 deaths have been recorded.

Since first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil, India and Russia are currently the countries hardest hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed nearly 578,000 people worldwide, with more than 13.29 million confirmed cases, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.