It is difficult for Kenya to decide to adopt a total lockdown.
This is the thought expressed by Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe who, speaking yesterday Thursday 29 October at the daily press conference on the Covid-19 emergency, confirmed that the country is going through a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"In the first wave, the highest positive rate in July was around 13%," Kagwe reiterated. "The day before yesterday we had a positive rate of around 20.2%, yesterday we were at 15%, today we are at 15.8%. This starting from the minimum recorded of about 4% in September. Clearly, we have a problem to face.
After fighting the virus for six months, Kagwe said that the measures established in the second wave will be a bit different.
The idea is not to penalise the economy again, but only those who do not respect the rules.
"Instead of closing the whole school system, only the schools affected by the pandemic will be closed," he said, "instead of closing all the restaurants, only those who do not follow the rules will be closed, so that we can still be able to save the economy.
In addition, Kagwe suggested reopening the hospitals that had been closed previously in order to accommodate more patients and confirmed that the Government is looking for more health workers to cope with the increase in patient numbers.
According to the Minister, the Counties will have to inform the Ministry on a daily basis about the progress of the virus and the health response and in turn will have to tighten controls and enforce the rules.
"It is becoming increasingly evident that the spread of the disease is largely due to areas where people are crowded and do not respect distances," said Kagwe, "this happens especially in indoor entertainment areas. Try to give priority to outdoor gathering places, even the locals".
In the last 24 hours the new positives were 761 out of 4830 tampons analysed.
The deaths due to Covid-19 were 14 and the total rises to 964.
There are now 1,084 serious patients in the country, including 35 in intensive care (ICU) and 14 in supplementary oxygen.