Kenya Coronavirus Cases Surge | WHO Raises Concerns
Barely after the GoK eased its movement restrictions, Kenya Coronavirus Cases have surged at an alarmingly high rate. And as such, Kenyan citizens are now facing a second wave break of COVID-19 infections. Worst still, the economic impact of the disease is likely to be worse in Africa than elsewhere.
The disease’s negative impact on the world economy has already translated into a decline in demand. Especially, for the primary products that Africa exports. Such as oil from Angola and Nigeria and rare minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example.
On Sunday, Kenya’s health minister (Mutahi Kagwe) warned that the country was headed for even more tough times ahead.
This is after reporting more than 600 new cases and several deaths. It’s even so unfortunate that some Medical Experts say it might be challenging to reimpose restrictions.
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In addition, Mutahi said the country recorded 7 deaths on Sunday and 685 new cases alone in the wake of Kenya Coronavirus cases surge as a result of the COVID-19 virus. He even said that Health Officials are equally worried.
“There is no doubt that we are witnessing what our modeling team this morning was calling a case of new infections. We are heading for a second wave; without doubt, we are also witnessing higher cases from prisons and other institutions across the different counties,” said Kagwe.
What is Coronavirus?
The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), whose epicenter was in Wuhan, China, has spread to more than 120 countries across the globe. Unlike the New Novel Coronavirus, the main Coronavirus was first identified in the 1960s. But to date, we still don’t know where it comes from.
It gets its name from its crown-like shape. And sometimes, but not often, a Coronavirus germ can infect both animals and humans. On 31st December 2019, WHO was alerted to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The virus did not match any other known virus.
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However, this raised concerns because when a virus is new, we do not know how it affects people. Even Nigeria’s finance minister had to recalculate the national budget to take into account the fall in international oil prices. Whereas, South Africa also entered a recession, aided, if not driven by, the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In reality, Tourism is also down. As international travelers stay home, hurting the economies of South Africa and Kenya, among others. Investors, confronted with a litany of unknowns about the disease and its consequences, are fleeing from emerging markets. At least for the time being.
Why are Kenya Coronavirus Cases surging?
In March 2020, the first Kenya Coronavirus case was reported by the Ministry of Health. The bad news is that at first, it seemed to be spreading slowly, in Africa, with new cases reported in Togo and Cameroon. With equal cases in the African giants like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa.
As of March 10, eleven countries in Africa had reported cases. The good news is that, later on, the number of cases remained remarkably small. Despite the fact that China is Kenya and Africa’s largest trading partner. The index cases in Africa appeared mostly to be of travelers from Europe.
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According to voanews, one journalist reports that, and I quote; “People have lowered their guard, and it’s unfortunate. I think this is because the reason why people seem to be lowering their guard is we do not know who got sick.
People will say they don’t know anyone who is infected, but for the few people who had someone, family relation, or a colleague, they are taking precautions,” he said. At the same time, what worries me the most is the weak public health systems.
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As for the teeming cities, and pervasive poverty, a reasonable assumption is that Coronavirus would spread rapidly in Africa. But to date, there’s no real consensus as to why this has not happened. Hypotheses include the apparently successful efforts by African states to control and monitor travelers from virus hot spots.
And, the fact that Africa’s young population makes it less vulnerable to the virus. Or, conversely, that weak public health systems likely miss much of the instance of the disease. Whatever the reasons, unlike past outbreaks of Ebola, the presence of large numbers of virus victims is not obvious in Africa’s medical facilities or on the street.
In recent months, Kenya pushed a nighttime curfew back to 11 p.m. Allowing bars and clubs to operate, and just last week partially reopened the public schools. You can read and learn more about Ebola from this article in more detail.
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Since March, Kenya has recorded more than 44,800 cases and 832 deaths. But, Is Coronavirus Real? Yes! Of course, the surge in Kenya Coronavirus cases has been confirmed numerous times by the Ministry of Health in its daily briefings.
And according to the Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, the first patient on record is a 27-year-old Kenyan. They had traveled from the US to Kenya through London. You can watch the complete first briefing by the Ministry of Health below.
So far, the government says it has traced all contacts the first patients made since arrival. Including the people who sat next to the first victim on the flights she took.
Consequently, Kenya suspended all travel outside the country unless necessary. Public gatherings are also suspended, including all inter-school events. And meanwhile, every level 4 and 5 hospitals in the country have an isolation ward funded by the Ministry of Health and the World Bank.
County Governments have also been urged to carry out regular public sensitization on the Novel Coronavirus Disease. But, could there be a surge due to Public Health Act Rules defiance?
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Well, I can simply say that Kenya Coronavirus cases are on a surge due to the defiance of the Public Health Act set rules. For instance, we’ve all seen how the Building Bridges Initiative (in short BBI) team is massively interacting from county to county.
Not forgetting, people have normalized their clubbing nature without any worries while exposing themselves and others to possible contact with the infected persons. Bearing in mind, following the first announcement, CS Kagwe invoked the Public Health Act.
The Public Health Act requires Kenyans to:
- Maintain a distance of at least 1 meter from persons who are coughing,
- Those coughing and have fever and difficulty in breathing should stay at home,
- All public gatherings, and events that have large gatherings,
- Suspension of inter-school events but schools will remain open,
- Suspension of all visits to prisons for the next 30 days,
- Kenyans have been warned against spreading misinformation,
- Unless absolutely necessary, traveling to affected countries have been banned,
- Public transport operators will be required to regularly clean their vehicles and provide sanitizers to passengers.
Omu Anzala is a virology and immunology professor at the University of Nairobi. He offered his assessment on why the country faces a second wave.
“It could be a reflection of two things. There was a period of time we didn’t have testing commodities, so people saw a decrease in the number of people who were positive.
But, in the last two to three weeks, we got the commodities, and we are testing more, so the numbers you are seeing could be a reflection of enhanced testing.
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But at the same time, looking at the data critically, there is an increase in the seropositivity of COVID cases. And we are now seeing COVID cases in all the counties,” he said.
Anzala, who also advises the government in combating the coronavirus, said it will be difficult to lock down the country again, but adds targeted lockdowns might be the answer.
“What we will be looking at is individual places, rather than saying we go back to restriction of movement in the entire country,” he said.
“We will be looking at the individual site, and where we find a spike, maybe our concentration will be there. What do we do to limit the spread of infection from that radius?”
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Finally, I hope the above guide on why Kenya Coronavirus cases are on a rise is helpful to you. Please, help us spread this message to your loved ones and other online readers by using the social share buttons below and above. While encouraging them to practice all the necessary precautions.
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All in all, we’ll keep you posted with more details on the same soon. And until then, Stay Safe!
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