This archive report was first published on 17 May 2020.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken drastic measures to control the spread of COVID-19 in Kenya, announcing the closure of the country's borders with Tanzania and Somalia, and extending the curfew for a further 21 days.
As of May 16, 2020, a total of 166 new cases had been reported in the country, with 43 of them being imported from Tanzania and Somalia. The cases were spread across five counties adjacent to the borders, with Wajir leading the list with 14 cases.
Truck drivers from foreign countries were also denied entry into Kenya after testing positive for COVID-19, with a total of 78 drivers being turned away during the same period. President Kenyatta emphasized the importance of testing truck drivers before allowing them to enter the country, stating that if they had not taken these steps, there would have been many thousands of infections and fatalities.
The President also extended the cessation of movement in and out of Mandera, Nairobi Metropolitan area, Kilifi, Kwale, and Mombasa Counties for the same period. He also announced that 49 more people had tested positive for COVID-19, raising the total number of infections to 830, with five more deaths reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 50.
President Kenyatta warned that the COVID-19 pandemic would continue to spread if the country did not take drastic measures to control it, stating that the enemy would lay waste to families, children, neighbors, and friends, and would find the weakest link to carry the disease to the most vulnerable.
He tasked the National Emergency Response Committee to evaluate options for striking a balance between opening the economy and flattening the curve, citing examples of countries like Singapore, Germany, and Ghana, which had initially done well in combating the disease but suffered spikes in new rates of infections when they eased their restrictions too early.
