It seems almost like a twist of fate, or perhaps a warning, that on the very day Kenya reopened its borders for international air flights, it should mourn the greatest number of deaths that had contracted the Covid-19 virus, 23.
Despite an average number of new cases in recent times (727, with a percentage of 11.5 on swabs carried out), the deaths confirmed yesterday by Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe are of great concern to the Government. Also because, as the Administrative Secretary, Abdì Aman, recalled two days ago, there are also young people and people with previous pathologies not so important among the seriously ill.
Among those who died yesterday, for example, there is a sixteen-year-old boy.
Fortunately, faced with these data, there is the high number of discharged patients: yesterday there were 254 citizens declared cured of the virus, 166 of whom were hospitalized and the rest followed a home care program. Most of the cases (470, plus 64 in the suburbs) are still in the capital Nairobi.
In the meantime, the reopening of the airports meant that the first flights took the way out of Kenya, before the way in. A sign that if tourism is still blocked by the ganglia of the European emergency decrees and the health of the Americans, the wealthy Keny people, those with dual nationality and with work, studies or partners abroad, couldn't wait to leave their country.
London, Kigali, Dubai, Addis Ababa (the most used link with the rest of the world) and Dakar were the first destinations used.
"I invite the Kenyan citizens to avoid as much as possible unnecessary trips out of the country - the Minister reiterated during the press conference on Saturday, August 1 - and I urge the health personnel to the entire ports of exit and entry to carry out their work with great attention and seriousness. We must find a way to resume economic activities with the awareness that Covid-19 is here among us".
The first British Airways and KLM flights should arrive on Sunday evening but even then they will probably be fuller on the return flight than on the outbound one, as is the case with every Kenya Airways flight.
Even a hundred Chinese, as reported yesterday by the national newspaper The Standard, are ready to leave Kenya with the first scheduled flight of one of their companies to return home.