Covid-19 in Kenya: concern and more severe measures in perspective

A mural promotes social distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Kibera, Nairobi, July 15, 2020. Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP

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2 min

Serious concerns in Kenya about the second wave of Covid-19, which promises to be more virulent than the previous one.

The number of positive cases now regularly exceeds the bar of a thousand per day, while the peak recorded in July, during the first wave, did not exceed 960 cases.

The Kenyan government may adopt tougher measures soon.

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With our correspondent in Nairobi,

As if the first wave of June, July and August had not really been one… Now, the new contaminations, recorded daily, are breaking records.

The same goes for the number of deaths: ten each day.

A new fact compared to the first wave, a number of hospitals are saturated, from Mombasa, on the coast, to Kisumu, in the West, via Nairobi in the center of the country.

The Kenyan medical system is not holding up.

Beds are, for example, installed in the parking lot of a large private hospital in the capital.

Some call on hotels to welcome the sick.

The United Nations is even preparing the installation of a medical unit on their site.

Looseness

The Kenyan authorities had adopted very strong measures from the start of the pandemic, last March, such as the closure of airspace and schools, travel restrictions.

But since then, measures have eased and Kenyans are increasingly questioning the dangerousness of the virus.

Wearing a mask, social distancing… Elementary barrier gestures are no longer respected.

Faced with this observation, President Uhuru Kenyatta summoned his ministers and the county governors on Wednesday, November 4.

On the table: a hardening of measures to slow down this new wave.

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• Kenya

• Coronavirus

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