NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 6 – President Uhuru Kenyatta is Monday expected to outline the next steps in combating the spread of the coronavirus, a pandemic that has necessitated the imposition of restrictions on travel in two of the country’s business hubs on April 6, crippling critical sectors.
With the World Health Organization having recently declared the pandemic potentially endemic, President Kenyatta faces a delicate balancing act; that of weighing the country’s economic recovery against public health.
Already, Kenya’s GDP growth has declined to 2.5 per cent down from a pre-coronavirus 2020 projection of 6.2 per cent, with the data from the World Bank showing the rate could further plummet to 1.5 per cent.
Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala and his Chief Administrative Secretary Joseph Boinnet say President Kenyatta’s address will provide direction on the reopening of domestic flights, a key component for the revival of the tourism sector which has been crippled by existing restrictions on inter-county travel in Nairobi and Mombasa.
“We want to make sure Ministry of Health measures are being followed; the issue of social distancing, washing hands, sanitization and wearing masks,” Balala said during an assessment tour of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on July 2.
CAS Boinnet who led ministry officials and aviation sector players in assessing the readiness of aviation hubs in Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret on July 4 said all protocols were in place for resumption of local flights albeit a few gaps at the Mombasa and Kisumu airports.
“We believe we’re on the right course. There a few things that need to be done in Mombasa and Kisumu but overall we’re on the right course,” the former Inspector General of Police stated.
Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka who led senior managers at the national carrier in conducting aircraft assessment tours in recent weeks exuded confidence in the airline’s ability to resume safe operations saying advanced onboard air filtration systems are capable of curtailing in-flight transmission of coronavirus.
“The measures that have been taken to mitigate the risk of transmission are sufficient. We’re ready to fly we’ve been ready for some time now,” Kilavuka said when he accompanied Boinnet during the inspection tour of JKIA Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Eldoret airports.
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“We’ll cross the t’s and dot the I’s and make sure that if we can do more, we’ll do more,” he added.
Kenya Airports Authority Acting Managing Director Alex Gitari airport facilities have been equipped with sanitization booths and lounges reconfigured to comply with physical distancing standards.
“Indeed we’ve received tremendous support from sector players including Kenya Airways, the Tourism Board, the Kenya Association of Airline Operators,” he said.
Kenya’s COVID-19 case fatality rate has recorded a steady decline in recent weeks having dropped from an average of 3.4 per cent in May and 2.5 per cent in June to 2.1 per cent in the first week of July and 2.03 on Sunday, July 5.
The country’s recorded the highest case fatality rate in April at 5.1 per cent.
During his June 6 national address on the status of the pandemic, President Kenyatta challenged the 47 county governments to set up at least 300 isolation beds each to ensure proper response to a projected surge in infections in the coming months.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman has noted the pandemic could easily overrun Kenya’s fragile public health system which suffers from inadequate capacity and human resource.
As of Sunday, July 5, the county had reported 7,886 with 309 newly detected cases from 4,228 analyzed samples.
The death toll stood at 160. Another 2,287 persons have been given a clean bill of health after recovering from the virus with active cases totaling 5,439.
