Kenya now has 343 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on Saturday, saying a total of 98 people had recovered and that the death toll remained 14.
Kenya, which reported its first case of Covid-19 on March 13, had 336 confirmed cases and 94 recoveries as of Friday.
President Kenyatta made these announcements in an address to the nation amid the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and Kenya’s efforts to reduce local transmission.
He made announcements including the following:
- An extension of the nationwide 7pm to 5am curfew by 21 days. Mr Kenyatta said the decision to escalate and de-escalate the restrictions will be made based on scientific and medical advice and how vulnerable the country is to large-scale infection.
- An extension of the cessation of movement order affecting Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties by 21 days.These counties were among 14 earlier identified as most at risk for the virus.Nairobi and Mombasa account for the highest number of cases and tested samples in the country. President Kenyatta said Kenya had tested more than 17,492 samples by Saturday.
- That minimal operations will be allowed at hotels and other eateries in select counties should they adhere strictly to the government’s measures against the spread of the deadly virus.
- The rollout of the National Hygiene Programme on April 29, an initiative that will help create a healthier environment and jobs, with the first phase employing 26,148 workers over 30 days and more than 100,000 youths progressively.
- That the government is unaware of reports that Kenya will take part in a vaccine trial.Giving the Health ministry’s daily briefing on Friday, Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said authorities were not aware of plans by Oxford University to carry out human vaccine trials in the country.President Kenyatta said the nation would be notified of developments in trials as local organisations such as the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) were taking part in global efforts for the vaccine.
- That more stringent measures against the virus will be taken in consultation with the county governments of Mandera, Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa as they have registered an increase in cases of infection. The government has also restricted movement into and out of Mandera.
- That the country’s security agencies will upgrade their alert and response measures in every border area to keep the government’s response to the coronavirus from being compromised.
President Kenyatta said measures the government has put in place so far have greatly helped Kenya to contain the spread.
“We have been spared the more terrible human cost so far because the government followed the advice of our medical experts and acted quickly to stop this disease from spreading and killing large numbers of Kenyans,” he said.
He noted that medical experts had predicted 10,000 infections by the end of April.
ECONOMIC REVIVAL
Countries around the world are currently facing a delicate balancing act following the economic impact of the pandemic – some are considering relaxing their movement restrictions but they must still contain the spread of the virus.
President Kenyatta said Kenya’s economy will be reopened but “in a way that does not endanger many thousands of lives”.
“Some countries had initially succeeded in suppressing the pandemic, only for them to open up without a proper process and suffer a huge spike in infections,” he noted.
On hotel operations, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe is expected to announce protocols that will see their re-opening.
Those to re-open will have to show the highest levels of health regulation compliance and the ability to arrange for employee testing and undertake minimal operations while adhering to measuring to contain the virus.
“Any report by the public or authorities that these establishments are not following the measures, will lead to their instant closure and prosecutions,” he added.
For the hygiene programme the inaugural cluster of employment will involve residents in 23 informal settlements, spread across seven counties.
“To demonstrate the principles of this approach — the making of face-masks will be undertaken by 4,048 tailors residing in those settlements. For their neighbourhoods, they will make up to 250,000 masks per day. This intervention stimulates the local economy while advancing our war against the coronavirus,” he said.
Phase Two of the programme will be nationwide, he added.
“Additionally, there are already aspects of the post-coronavirus economic recovery plan that we are progressively rolling out. My administration shall activate micro, small and medium enterprises across the country to manufacture basic medical equipment and supplies for domestic use and export,” he said,
“This initiative will be undertaken under the auspices of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda and will have a budget of Sh1.5 billion.”
STATISTICS
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus infections in Africa was 28,351 and the deaths 1,301, according to Worldometer’s tally on April 25.
The virus has spread across the world, killed many, altered the definition of normalcy and collapsed economies since it was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019.
It had infected at least 2,847,238 people by April 25, with the total number of deaths standing at 197,979 and that of recoveries at 811,783.
The number of active cases stood at 1,779,175, with three per cent or 58,301 of them being critical and the rest mild.
Worldometer’s count showed that the number of closed cases was 1,009,762, with 80 per cent or 811,783 being the number of recoveries or those discharged.
Daily Nation
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