Economy

Health ministry wants Covid restrictions maintained

mutahi-kagwe

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Ministry of Health has urged President Uhuru Kenyatta not to relax restrictions imposed to curb spread of the coronavirus following a rise in infections.

The ministry says the country risks a spike in infections if it relaxes the measures that include ban on social gatherings, the 10pm to 4 am curfew, sporting activities in schools and the restricted operation of bars.

Calls to extend the measures come as the country recorded the highest positivity rate of coronavirus since January, fuelling fears that the health facilities may be overrun in coming days.

Positivity rate which is tabulated by dividing the number of infections by the sample size hit 14 percent yesterday, up from an average of 3.1 percent in January.

Yesterday, Kenya tested 5, 230 samples and recorded 713 new infections bringing the positivity rate to 14 percent, while the number of deaths is 1,898.

Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi told Parliament that Kenya should emulate countries like Israel that have not eased restrictions despite roll-out of the Covid-19 jab.

President Uhuru Kenyatta will tomorrow announce if the Covid-19 restrictions will be extended or relaxed as the country continues with gradual re-opening of the economy.

“We are looking at Israel because it is the country that has vaccinated the highest number of people, nearly half of its population,” Ms Mwangangi said yesterday.

“They (Israel and other countries) have continued with the ban on social gatherings and washing of hands because the vaccine is only protective.”

The government is facing a dilemma in relaxing the Covid-19 containment measures to support the economic recovery while at the same time shielding masses from the spike in infections.