New poll shows Kenyans want curfew to remain indefinitely until COVID-19 is contained » Capital News

Nairobi, Kenya Jun 7 – A new poll released Sunday shows that 57 per cent of Kenyans want the night curfew to remain in place until COVID-19 is fully contained.

The study by Infotrack shows that Kenyans interviewed expressed concerns that a relaxation of the containment measures risk plunging the country into a health crisis due to the increased number of infections which had hit 2,600 Saturday, with 83 deaths.

On Saturday, President Uhuru Kenyatta extended the nationwide night curfew from 7 pm to 9pm to end at 4am from the current 5pm.

He however, said the cessation of movement in Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera counties will remain in place due to higher infection rates in those counties but opened up Eastleigh and Old Town region of Mombasa from Sunday.

In the research findings, 30 per cent of Kenyans however, said that the curfew should be done away with to pave way for free movement of people in the country so as to rescue the economy.

With the rising cases of infections in the country, the research findings established that majority of Kenyans at 64 percent were worried about the situation.

Among the concerns raised by Kenyans is that the country does not have enough medical equipment and hospital beds to cope up with large scale pandemic outbreak.

The failure by Kenyans to adhere to the prevention measures stipulated by the government topped as the leading hindrance in the fight against COVID-19.

A total of 1, 203 respondents were interviewed between May 28 to June 2 in 24 counties.

68 percent of Kenyans lauded the government for its efforts in containing the virus.

At the same time, 4 out of 10 Kenyans revealed that it is better to take their families upcountry to protect them from COVID-19.

President Kenyatta is on Wednesday set to meet with Governors to review the effectiveness of the coronavirus containment measures and counties preparedness in managing the situation.

“While I consider the possibility of de-escalating the containment measures in place and conscious that Health is a shared function – between the National and County Governments, I have convened an Extra-Ordinary session of the National and County Government Co-ordinating,” he said.

In his address to the nation on Saturday, President Kenyatta said the ban on all forms of gatherings, including churches and political gatherings will remain outlawed as the governments seeks to engage stakeholders for a lasting solution.

The Head of State confessed that the question of whether to open the economy or not, was not a matter of being right or wrong, but a dilemma of two rights.

He declared that he will only re-open the economy once infections of COVID-19 go down.

“Those who want me to open are right and those opposed to opening are also right. This clash of two rights placed us on the horns of a dilemma. If we had not taken the stringent measures we took in March, the rate of infections in Kenya would have peaked to 800,000 people by the end of July this year,” Kenyatta said.

With the number of positive cases now at 2600, Kenyatta said the current containment measures if relaxed by 20 percent, will rise to 200,000 with 30,000 deaths by December.

“If we were to go even further and relax them by 60 percent, the pandemic will peak in October with 450,000 infections with 45,000 deaths. Although,   these projections are generated by a model, our experts have shown us hard evidence suggesting that countries that opened up their economies without proper models, experienced serious waves of infections,” Kenyatta added.

Bars will also remain closed for 30 days, with plans now underway to have schools reopened for third term in September.