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Irene Githinji @gitshee

The government yesterday said it will on Sunday make a decision as to whether to impose more restrictions on the counties affected by the Covid-19 pandemic following the increased number of confirmed cases in the country.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Mercy Mwangangi said  the National Emergency Response Committee (NERC) will meet on Sunday to determine whether to relax or tighten cessation of movement orders issued to some of the counties earlier in the month.

Nairobi Metropolis 21-day cessation order took effect on April 6 and is expected to end on Sunday.

“We have a team that is reviewing the impact of measures that have been in place. We are looking at the impact of the current hand washing measures, social distancing, having 60 per cent occupancy in the transport industry, having take away services on our hotels,” said Mwangangi during the daily coronavirus briefing.

Five counties are currently under cessation, with Mandera being the latest victim. Others are Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi, whose 21-day order took effect on April 8.

Disease spread

Mwangangi said the ministry has developed a matric of all the measures put in place to stop the spread of the disease and will be evaluated on Sunday during the NERC meeting and decisions will then be made as to whether the containment measures need to be tightened or loosened and will be communicated by the end of the week.

In the last 24 hours, 17 new positive cases were confirmed for the coronavirus out of the 668 samples tested, bringing the total to 320. All 17 are Kenyans, 12 of whom are from Mombasa and five from Nairobi.

However, an additional six patients have recovered and discharged, brining the total recoveries to 89.

“Other than two cases who are in the Intensive Care Unit, the rest are mild cases and will hopefully be discharged in proper order of time,” said Dr. Mwangangi.

 As far as costs and billing for those in quarantine, the CAS said the ministry is preparing a database and negotiating on the rates with the players both in the public and private hospitals to have a defined mechanism.

“We are in negotiations and engagements with different players to be able to define a mechanism that would be adequate in ensuring that Kenyans who may not be able to meet these bill would have those taken care of,” she said.

Mwangangi also appealed to security personnel and healthcare workers to exercise caution and high level of understanding while dealing with those in quarantine facilities.