BFF-34 Kenya president extends curfew another 60 days

421

ZCZC

BFF-34

HEALTH-VIRUS-KENYA

Kenya president extends curfew another 60 days

NAIROBI, March 12, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta on
Friday extended an evening curfew for another 60 days — as the country
approaches a year of life under night-time restrictions.

As Kenya also marked a year since it recorded its first case of Covid-19,
Kenyatta warned of a third wave of infections, saying the positivity rate had
risen from two percent in January, to 13 percent and “is still rising”.

Kenya this week hit its highest death toll in one day — 12 fatalities —
since last year, and the more contagious variants which emerged in the UK and
South Africa have both been recorded in the country.

“The nationwide curfew is hereby extended for a further containment of 60
days,” said Kenyatta, adding that a measure requiring bars and restaurants to
close at 9pm would remain.

Like many countries in East Africa, Kenya took swift action against Covid-
19, restricting movement, closing borders and schools and implementing a
curfew on March 25, initially from 7 pm to 5 am.

After three months as measures eased this was shifted to 9 pm to 4 am,
then briefly to 11 pm, and back to 10 pm where it has remained since November
last year.

Schools were re-opened in January.

Kenyatta announced a fresh ban on political gatherings, which have been
forbidden from the start, but mostly ignored by him and his allies who have
criss-crossed the country for months drawing massive crowds and drumming up
support for constitutional reforms.

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga — now an ally of his former rival
Kenyatta — was confirmed Thursday to have tested positive after a week of
such rallies at the coast.

Kenyatta noted that the measures taken had seen Kenya’s economy grow only
by 0.6 percent and not the projected 6.2 percent in 2020 — causing a loss of
$5 billion (4.2 billion euros) in GDP.

However he said this had saved thousands of lives and was better than the
global contraction of 3.5 percent.

“We chose life over the economy.”

He also ordered the strengthening of genomic surveillance, to check on the
variants circulating in the population.

Kenya has recorded almost 112,000 cases and 1,901 deaths from coronavirus.
Its previous wave peaked at the end of November last year.

The country, with a population of about 47 million, has carried out only
1.3 million tests.

BSS/AFP/SSS/2020 hrs