Kenya continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic with cases steadily rising each day. Government have locked down a handful of counties including the capital Nairobi and imposed a night-time curfew as part of containment efforts.
This rolling page will continue to give updates on major occurrences as relates to the East African country. You can follow Kenya’s March – April 2020 COVID-19 updates on our earlier page.
Kenya as of May 10 was the fourth most impacted country in the East / Horn of Africa region only behind Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Government also rolled out mass testing in virus hot spots, borders remain shut and a ban on public gatherings continues.
July 2:
Kenya has taken giant steps to shore its tourism industry from the worsening economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tourism Minister Najib Balala announced a raft of measures on Thursday. “Due to the adverse effects of Covid-19 to the tourism and wildlife sector. We have reduced entry fees to all Kenya Wildlife Service game parks and reserves to 50%.
“This will apply for all categories of tourists (local, residents & international), effective July 1, 2020 for one year,” he added. The main interventions are:
Reduced national park entry fees for Kenyan and international visitors.
Lodges inside the parks have also been given a year’s moratorium from paying rent.
Film makers have also been given a 50% discount on filming fees charged in parks.
The minister also urged the lodges to use the rent holiday to improve services. Tourism is a mainstay of the Kenyan economy. The country us a major player in the East African region along with Uganda and Tanzania.
Confirmed cases = 6,673
Active cases = 4,435
Recoveries = 2,089
Number of deaths = 149
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 1, 2020
The Cabinet Secretary Min_TourismKE tunajibu has reduced the park entry fees to all Kenya Wildlife Service Parks and Reserves for all categories of tourists (Citizens, Residents, and Non-residents) effective July 1,2020 for one year. #DiscoverKWSParks pic.twitter.com/x0unTHiFLW— KWS (@kwskenya) July 2, 2020
June 21: 100 days since index case; 4,738 cases
Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe today announced that Kenya was marking 100 days since the first case was confirmed. The disease is now affecting 40 counties to date, he added.
260 new cases were recorded taking the case load to 4,738 confirmed cases. 254 of the new cases were Kenyans with the others being foreigners. The number of tests also hit 140,012 over the 100 day period.
The minister stressed that from all indications the virus was going to be around for a while and urged that individuals take personal responsibility in helping curb the spread and by that ease pressures on the system and on resources.
“Our systems are now much better, but we are still learning. COVID-19 has badly impacted our economy including loss of jobs. But the government has made much effort to contain it. By next week each county will have at least 300 isolation bed capacity.
He added:
