Hairdressers directed to wear face masks, enforce social distancing to curb virus

They are also required to limit the number of clients visiting at a time in ensuring compliance to social distancing regulations.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary, Dr Mercy Mwangangi who spoke during a daily media briefing on coronavirus Wednesday said the health ministry will issue further instructions as the government steps up efforts to contain the virus which has infected more than 1.5 million people globally and led to nearly 89,000 deaths.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has termed the virus as the worst crisis since the end of World War 2.

“All salon and hair salon operators must wear masks while attending the clients, further to this, we shall issue guidelines restricting the number of salons at a time.

“We  must ensure the salons have hand sanitisers and that clients maintain social distancing and they practice basic hygiene in their operations,” she said

Dr Mwanagi urged the business personnel to comply to government directives to prevent further spread of the virus that has killed 6 people with 9 others having recovered.

Meanwhile, the government and WHO was validating newly developed home-based care guidelines for COVID- 19 which will enable patients diagnosed with mild coronavirus symptoms are managed at their homes.

Mwangangi said the government will complete the validation of the protocols with WHO and the African Union Centres for Diseases Control (CDC) within 24 hours.

“The technical COVID-19 taskforce has looked at the protocols and put them up together, what we are doing in the next 24 hours  is validating them with WHO and CDC to review them if they meet the standards,” she said.

The home-based guidelines will include an intervention which will see sociologists do home assessments to ensure homes are viable for self-quarantine and treatment.