Kenya closes Tanzania, Somalia border except for cargo transit – KBC

President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that there shall be cessation of movement of persons and any passenger ferrying automobiles and vehicles into and out of the country through the Kenya-Tanzania international border or through Kenya-Somalia effective midnight Saturday 16th, May 2020.

This is except for cargo vehicles.

In his sixth presidential address on the coronavirus pandemic Saturday, the president also directed that all drivers of the cargo vehicles be subjected to mandatory COVID-19 disease testing and to be only be granted entry into the Kenya if they test negative.

He said over the last week a total of 43 cases recorded in the country had been imported from the neighbouring Somalia and Tanzania.

” Among the positive cases that have been registered in the country this week, a total of forty three (43) cases have recently crossed the border from neighbouring Somalia and Tanzania. As of yesterday, the cases across the border were distributed as follows, Wajir 14, Isebania 10, Namanga 16, Lungalunga 2 and Loitoktok 1.”He said.

” Further to this, seventy eight (78) truck drivers who are foreign nationals tested positive for the COVID-19 disease. They were denied entry into our territory at different border crossings. If we had not undertaken this intervention, the imported cases through our borders would have today accounted for more than 50 percent of the week’s infections.” He added.

The president noted that the numbers and the spread of infection clearly indicate that if no action is taken, all the gains already achieved in combating the pandemic will undoubtedly be lost.

The COVID-19 cases in Kenya have risen to 830 with 50 fatalities.