Kenyan President “Disturbed” By Rising Coronavirus Cases
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has expressed concern over the number of rising cases of coronavirus in the East African nation.
In an interview aired by local broadcaster NTV, he said experts were predicting Kenya’s peak would be in August or September and said Kenyans had an individual responsibility to stop the spread of the virus.
The country has been reporting hundreds of new cases every day as it scales up its testing capacity. The total number of confirmed cases stand at 1,962, including 64 deaths.
President Kenyatta said the number of infections were low because a majority of Kenyans were following safety measures.
The president lauded health-care workers for their response to the pandemic.
The country has been on a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew for more than two months. Travel in and out of the capital, Nairobi, and three other coastal counties with a high number of cases is restricted.
Relatedly, thirty-one Kenyan prisoners have been transferred to health facilities in the capital, Nairobi, after testing positive for coronavirus.
They were among 59 other inmates who underwent mass testing after completing 21 days in quarantine where they had been admitted after court appearances.
Prisons Commissioner General Wycliffe Ogallo said they had “taken preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus within the 129 correctional facilities across the country”.
Kenyan prisons are known to be overcrowded.
The government recently released 11,000 prisoners held for minor offences to prevent the spread of the virus in prisons.