This archive report was first published on 25 June 2020.
On June 25, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta revealed that the reopening of the country's economy would depend on the level of preparedness by the counties to respond to Covid-19 infections.
During a virtual meeting with Governors at Statehouse, Uhuru asked Governors to take a leading role in curbing the spread of Covid-19 infections before he could reopen the economy.
"County readiness to respond to new imported cases of infection will largely determine our national readiness to re-open the country as a whole," the President explained.
Uhuru emphasized that the nation is the sum total of all the 47 counties, and if the counties have met the necessary thresholds, then the nation will be ready to re-open.
Deputy President Dr William Ruto, representatives of religious and business sectors, and Cabinet Secretaries for Health and Education, Mutahi Kagwe and George Magoha, were also present in the virtual meeting.
Chairperson of the Council of Governors, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, presented a progress report on the roll-out of the minimum Covid-19 response measures required ahead of the re-opening of the economy.
According to Oparanya, counties had attained a total of 6,898 isolation beds against the national target of 30,500 units, with 12 counties meeting the 300 per county isolation beds threshold and 34 devolved units on course to meet the target within the month.
Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe was against re-opening of the economy before the response preparedness threshold agreed upon is fully met, attributing the rise in the number of cases to counties that had hastily reopened the economy without having proper Covid-19 containment protocols set up.
