"Non c'è Corona, there's no Corona."
They tell you this in Italian, also because the few white people left in Malindi during this period, or just arrived, are almost all Italian residents and the historic British citizens (of Kenyan passport) are very recognizable.
On the other hand, until six months ago, there were many Italian tourists, then what happened?
"Corona has arrived in Italy," explains Abdul, an all-round moneychanger, bodyguard and buttadentro (in the boutiques) who lives and grows in the Uhuru Garden, which has always been called "piazzetta del cambio", and Italians locked in their homes, a few of whom have stayed here. Then he also arrived in Kenya, but little in Nairobi. But our politicians took a lot of help, so we have to say what a crown there is".
A simplistic vision but shared by many Kenyans on the coast.
It's no coincidence that very few face masks are seen and, apart from the bars closed for fear of the perpetual revocation of the license and the curfew for police beatings, personal rules are often and willingly broken: no crowds, and at the market there is a crowd, it's forbidden to go to the beach and at five in the afternoon it's full, masks in public places and the first not to wear them are the "public".
But it's nothing new or strange for Malindi, where the Italian presence has put many icing on a cake of southern Kenya (some good, some less): here you can ride in 4 on a motorcycle approved for two, in 20 on a van approved for 14, and be owners in 3 of the same land, not approved.
Strange but true, however, is that in Malindi in six months there has not been a single resident infected by Covid-19. No cases of suspicious death with symptoms attributable to the virus have led the local health authorities to carry out a posthumous swab.
And let's not get into the fact that in Kenya these things don't happen, because they don't.
Suspicious cases (deaths with respiratory problems and fever) are always tested. In Mombasa during the emergency, about ten people were found positive like this.
But even among the asymptomatic so far there are no official cases, and even this data would be easily verifiable, since all the foreign activities on site, between Mambrui and Watamu, to reopen they had to swab their staff. We are talking about more than 1,500 employees. None were found positive.
The only two cases discovered in the Sub-County of Malindi brought the Covid-19 from outside, but fortunately they did not pass it on to anyone.
It was a truck driver who arrived at the Ngomeni salt pans from Uganda and a businessman from Nairobi who was staying in a motel. A facility that has been closed, sterilized, and whose employees have been re-tested.
I mean, you'd say Abdul's right, "Corona's not here."
But there isn't a soul on vacation...
The game between contagions and tourists is down to 0-0.
On the one hand, who would come on holiday to a destination where there's a curfew and everyone goes to bed at 9:00 a.m.? And where no alcohol is sold in restaurants and bars are closed?
And to think that despite the restrictions still active in Kenya, there would be many Italians who would leave immediately to enjoy their slice of "Mal d'Africa"!
And here comes into play the Government of Rome, which prohibits travel for tourism throughout Africa (except Rwanda, and we should understand why ... maybe Gigino Di Maio particularly likes gorillas?) and imposes quarantine on the return from non-European countries.
Unthinkable that a global decree approved along the lines of that of the EU could make exceptions for the "Italian colony" in Kenya and to save the economic activities of many countrymen on the north coast. These things only happen in fairy tales, even if in Malindi the first fairy tale seems to be the Coronavirus.