This archive report was first published on 20 October 2021.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has lifted the nationwide curfew, which had been in place since March 27, 2020, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
According to a statement made by President Kenyatta on Mashujaa Day, the curfew has been vacated with immediate effect.
The decision comes after a sharp decline in Covid-19 infections and hospital admissions reported in recent weeks, putting pressure on the President to ease Kenya's Covid-19 restrictions.
Kenya has met a majority of indicators used to downgrade restrictions in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, including ICU admissions, positivity rate, and deaths.
The WHO recommends that restrictions can be eased if the positivity rate remains below five percent for at least two weeks.
President Kenyatta, however, cautioned that the country is not yet out of the woods and appealed to Kenyans to continue observing the Ministry of Health containment measures.
Kenya's economy has been hit hard by the pandemic, with restrictions reducing revenues and stifling growth. Economic output contracted for the first time in nearly three decades last year, largely due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis on key sectors like tourism.
