The government is concerned about the return of mass gatherings in the form of political meetings in parts of the country, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dr. Rashid Aman has said.
While the intention of some of these gatherings could be noble, he said that the execution violates social distancing rules that the government has been preaching day in day out to curb the spread of Coronavirus.
“We wish to remind all Kenyans, including our political leaders to desist from undermining the laid down rules and guidelines,” Dr. Rashid said during the government update on Covid 19 response measures
The CAS noted that Friday being the penultimate of the national curfew announced on March 27th as part of the wider measures to contain COVID-19 disease, the country has made tremendous use of this period to halt spread of this virus despite a few lapses.
“Whereas we have registered significant gains due to the measures we have in place, we have equally noted a degree of complacency creeping back,” the CAS said.
On the importance of healthy living, Dr. Rashid said those people with non-communicable diseases conditions such as heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disorders, among other NCDs were more susceptible to contracting Covid-19 disease and urged them to follow the precautionary measures for preventing COVID 19 with great discipline.
“Adopting a healthy life style is important now more than ever before. A healthy lifestyle will ensure that the body functions better and improve the immune system. Eating healthy diets, with plenty of fruits and vegetables, keeping physically active, quitting smoking, limiting or avoiding alcohol intake, and getting enough sleep are key components of a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
As the government continues to scale up testing, Dr. Rashid said that in the last 24 hours, having tested 946 samples across twelve counties, 16 people tested positive for Covid 19 bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 336.
The 16 were picked out from among communities by the surveillance teams; eleven (11) in Nairobi and five (5) in Mombasa.
The 11 Nairobi cases were spread between Dandora (5), City park (2), Eastleigh (1), Parklands (2) and Pipeline (1) while Mombasa’s five cases were picked in Kiembeni (1), Centi Kumi (1), Stadium (1), Msikiti Nuru (1) and Mulaloni (1).
Dr. Rashid said the number of fatalities arising from COVID-19 diseases remained 14 since April 18th, and that currently, 887 contacts were being monitored while five discharges were done Friday bringing to 94 the total number of the people who have recovered from the disease.
“We are continuing to scale up our testing, with full awareness that it is only through testing that we can know the scope of our problem,” the CAS said noting that so far, a total number of 16, 738 tests have been conducted so far.
The distribution of the 946 samples tested in the last 24 hours by county of origin is Nairobi, 532 cases, Mombasa 312, Kilifi 27, Siaya 17, Mandera, Kwale and Vihiga 15, Kisumu 5, Bungoma 4 while Taita Taveta, Bomet, Kisii, and Busia had one case each.
During the briefing, Dr. Rashid appreciated Thursday’s court decision that upheld the measures put in place by the Government, including social distancing and fumigation of public premises urging all to be patient while the government works to eradicate the spread of this virus.
By Wangari Ndirangu
