Kenya Reopens Under New Guidelines After Corona Virus Lockdown
By: Aska Makori
Posted on Monday, July 6, 2020
The long-awaited presidential address by His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta has taken place today. It’s good or bad news for Kenyans as partial re-opening has been established. The following are some of the new guidelines given as per the presidential address:
The cessation of movement in and out of Nairobi Metropolitan, Mandera and Mombasa counties shall lapse tomorrow Tuesday at 4am. This however shall be revisited if the status of #Covid19 in the country deteriorates. President Kenyatta has warned that should this happen, Kenya will be reverting back to lockdown.
The nationwide dusk to dawn curfew has been extended for 30 more days as a precautionary measure to control further spread of the virus. The curfew starts at 9pm to 4am in the morning. Kenyans have been questioning the effectiveness of this curfew since there is very little movement during this time.
The debate on whether worship places should be opened ends today. Worship places have been reopened under strict measures. To mention a few; Social Distancing must be applied at all times, washing of hands and sanitization…only a maximum of 100 participants shall be allowed in worship ceremonies with the worship time not exceeding 1 hour. Age limits have also been applied as congregants under the age of 13 and above the age of 58 are not allowed to join in-person worship, this applies to persons with health conditions. Sunday Schools and Madrasas remain suspended.
Local air travel shall resume on Wednesday July 15th under strict guidelines. International air travel shall resume on August 1st.. The restriction on the operation of bars has been softened a bit to take-away only, with the restriction on the number of people to attend weddings, funerals and other public gatherings being extended for a further 30 days.
The president has not directly addressed the re-opening of schools but has ordered the ministry of education to announce the resumption of the 2020 academic year for basic and tertiary education. This is to take place today and not later than tomorrow.
With the partial re-opening, the president has however made it clear that there shall be no movement of public service vehicles unless the operators have a mandatory certificate from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Transport.
The president has however aired his concerns on the tension in homes with the increase in Gender Based Violence, Mental Health cases and Teenage Pregnancies. He is appealing to institutions to exercise civic responsibilities and bring the issue to an end. According to him, if a family is weak, a Nation is weak. He further encourages Kenyans to stay safe and take precautionary measures to prevent contracting and spreading the virus. President Kenyatta says that how the country proceeds from here shall be determined by the behavior of each one of us.
Well Kenyans, it seems like ‘Freedom’ has finally come. How we use our freedom is up to us. It’s a personal choice whether you want to flatten the curve or take it further up the margin. The state of #Covid19 in the country has now become a personal matter of life and death; which one do you choose?
