Kenya could be headed for a second surge of the deadly coronavirus. COVID-19 infections in the country continue to spike daily after the President announced further easing of restrictions.
Kenya Lifts Some Restrictions
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the easing of restrictions on Monday in a nationwide address. Restrictions were put in place in Kenya in early March to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. However, the restrictions affected Kenya’s economic life, and the President was under pressure to reopen the country. Thus, on Monday, the head of state announced that there would be a phased reopening meant to strike an equilibrium between containing the virus and sustaining Kenya’s economy.
Places of worship were allowed to open but were limited to a maximum of 100 people inside. Church service or events could only last for one hour. Only congregants between the ages of 13 to 58 could attend church service. These individuals could only join in worship if they didn’t have any underlying medical condition. The President also declared that local air travel would resume while international air travel would restart in August.
Restrictions in and out of Nairobi, which is Kenya’s coronavirus epicenter, were lifted. Travel in and out of Mombasa and Mandera counties was now possible after the President lifted their restrictions.
Bringing Back of Restrictions
Some previous restrictions put in place, however, remained. Political and social gatherings, for instance, were still prohibited. The country’s dusk-to-dawn nationwide curfew put in place in March would continue for another 30 days.
President Kenyatta stated that he intended to reopen the country and for it to remain open. Thus he asked Kenyans to exercise shared and civic responsibility so that everything could go back to normal. However, the President added that if the situation deteriorated and posed a challenge to Kenya’s health infrastructure, then the restrictions would be brought back.
A study of the patterns of interactions and the disease’s spread would be conducted in Kenya for the next 21 days. Kenya would go into lockdown if the patterns and disease spread signaled a worsening trend of the pandemic.
Second Wave of Infections in Kenya
Ever since the President lifted some restrictions in Kenya, studies show COVID-19 infections keep rising. Kenya’s health minister said that the infection rate had jumped to 12% from 4%. Additionally, ICU admissions had increased in hospitals after lifting of some restrictions.
The health minister said that lifting of some restrictions triggered laxity in social distancing. Wearing face masks, especially in bars and political rallies had gone entirely through the window. People were violating containment protocols and advice from experts, which only leads to increased infections. Kenya’s health minister told Kenyans that the Nation would witness many new cases of infections each day. Because of the increase, a second wave would soon hit Kenya without a doubt. Having reopened bars, churches, and schools, 616 case new virus cases were reported on Saturday, while 685 cases were reported on Sunday.
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