Kenya Government Shuts Down Two Top Nairobi Hotels over Cholera

The Ministry of Health has ordered the closure of two Nairobi City hotels, Jacaranda and San Valencia following a cholera outbreak in the Kenyan Capital City in recent weeks.

While giving the order, Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu said that the two joints will cease to operate immediately, until they comply with new food safety requirements.

Mailu warned that more closures will follow as the government crackdown on joints that will not have acquired fresh certification within 21 days as ordered by the government.

He said that certification will only be issued after Hotel staff and premises are tested and found to comply with set standards.

The Cabinet Secretary was speaking after visiting patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital, which has admitted 101 patients, 67 of whom are still on treatment of a particular strain of cholera.

Mailu further out on notice water vendors, water bowser operators asking them to seek certification after inspection by the County Government on their sources of water.

Medical Services Director at the Ministry of Health Jackson Kioko said that the government will distribute 500,000 water tablets in areas susceptible to the cholera bacteria.

Kioko urged Nairobi residents to be on high alert and observe high personal hygiene and directed the county government of Nairobi to ensure all broken sewers are fixed.