This archive report was first published on 18 July 2020.
Corona Cases Spike in Kenya After Lifting of Travel Restrictions ¶
Published on July 18, 2020
Days after the lifting of Covid travel restrictions for Nairobi, I traveled upcountry for the funeral of a family friend. The deceased's family have been friends since I was young, and I decided to attend the funeral despite the official advice to avoid unnecessary travel to the countryside.
What struck me was that many people in the villages are not scrupulously observing the Covid-19 rules. They don't seem to have accustomed themselves to routinely wear face masks when they leave their homes, and many still shake hands heartily, despite the known risks.
At the local shopping centre, I did not observe much physical distancing. If rural counties want to contain the corona pandemic, the locals need to take the necessary precautions more seriously, especially since over 80 per cent of the cases are reported to be asymptomatic.
According to the Ministry of Health, home-based care of Covid-19 patients is being stressed, which reduces costs for the government and eases the crowding in hospitals. However, the MoH says home-care patients should not have underlying conditions like diabetes and that nobody in the household should be over 64.
Meanwhile, 20 specialist doctors from Cuba are here to boost the anti-Covid fight, and it has been the case in many countries across the world, where restrictions are relaxed, that corona infections spike.
A tragic example is South Africa, which this week was recording an alarming 12,000 cases a day on average, which is about 500 infections per hour. As of Friday, the South African caseload had shot to over 300,000 and nearly 5,000 deaths.
Worldwide, the United States continues to lead the tally of Covid cases, with the country having four per cent of the world's population, but 25 per cent of infections. Many states in the US have seen a spike in cases after relaxing self-isolation measures.
