By AFP
Kenya’s health minister announced Wednesday that one suburb of the capital Nairobi, as well as a part of the port city of Mombasa, will be cordoned off due to skyrocketing cases of coronavirus in those areas.
Cases of the virus have crept up slowly in Kenya, as in many other African countries, however in recent days it has become clear the virus is fast spreading in several hotspots.
Eastleigh, a suburb in Nairobi with a large Somali population, has recorded 68 cases, while Mombasa’s Old Town has 64 infections, out of a total 582 cases in the country. There have been 26 deaths nationwide.
Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said that from Wednesday, for the next 15 days, “there shall be cessation of movement” in and out of Eastleigh and Mombasa’s Old Town.
“Let me be clear, there will be no movement to or out of the two places from 7 pm (1600 GMT) today. Within those areas people are free to move but we encourage people to stay in their houses,” the health Minister said.
No such measures were announced for the informal settlement Kawangware, where 24 cases of the virus have been recorded.
Kenya has stopped short of ordering a full lockdown, like many of its neighbours. Observers have warned to do so would be a disaster for the millions of urban poor who live hand to mouth in slums in the capital.
The country has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and blocked movement in and out of Nairobi, three coastal towns, and the north-eastern county of Mandera, as well as two refugee camps housing some 400,000 people.
However while nations that did confine their population, like Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda, are starting to ease restrictions as new cases flatten out, Kenya has seen a jump in cases in recent days.
The Kenyan government also announced that from Wednesday it will shoulder all the costs of quarantine, as citizens have resisted taking free tests out of fear that if they are positive they will have to pay for their own isolation and treatment.
Several stories of patients in quarantine being held as they are unable to pay their bills have circulated in local media.
