Covid-19 surge: Kenya imposes strict measures

Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta has banned all inland travels in and out of five counties including the capital, Nairobi to stop a surge of Covid-19 cases.

No road, rail or air transport will be allowed till further notice, Mr. Kenyatta said.

He declared Nairobi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Machakos and Nakuru counties to be “disease-infested zones”.

All in-person meetings in the counties have been banned.

International travel will continue on condition that all passengers present negative Covid-19 certificates.

The president has also increased curfew hours to now begin at 20.00 until 04.00 in the five counties and revoked all special passes that allowed people to travel within the restricted hours.

The sale of alcohol in the areas has been banned and restaurants ordered to do only takeaways.

Kenya Covid-19 positivity rate has jumped from two percent to 22% between January and March.

The president said at least seven people are dying every day from Covid-19 in Nairobi, six out of 10 people test positive to Covid-19.

The new measures came into effect at midnight of Friday.

BBC/Nneka Ukachukwu