This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
On June 6, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the nation on the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the President, 126 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,600.
Regrettably, four more people lost their lives within the same period, raising the total number of fatalities to 83.
President Kenyatta emphasized the importance of the government's interventions, stating that without them, the infection curve would have skyrocketed.
“Fellow Kenyans, let's speak truth to each other,” the President said. “Had we not taken the stringent measures in March, then the coronavirus infections would have reached 800,000 people by July 30 this year. But because we took interventions early, we have recorded only 2,600 infections with 83 deaths.”
He further highlighted the potential consequences of not acting swiftly, stating that one infected person has the potential to infect two people, which would have resulted in 2.4 million cases in 21 days.
By the end of August, the President warned that approximately 75,000 Kenyans would have lost their lives from the disease if the government had not taken action.
President Kenyatta also presented a hypothetical scenario where the interventions were relaxed by only 20 percent, which, according to experts, would lead to 200,000 infections and 30,000 deaths by December 2020.
