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by IANS |
Nairobi, March 12 (IANS) Kenya's Ministry of Health has announced the suspension of public health measures aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19, as infections and fatalities have dipped.
Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health, said the lifting of the mask mandate and a ban on public gatherings was due to a sustained drop in new infections, hospitalisations and deaths arising from the virus, reports Xinhua news agency.
"Our decision to suspend wearing of masks in public and allow resumption of outdoor gatherings was informed by scientific evidence indicating that Covid-19 had become a negligible public health risk," Kagwe said during a briefing here.
He encouraged the public to wear masks while attending indoor activities in poorly ventilated spaces, adding that in-house worship for fully vaccinated individuals will resume.
In addition, Kagwe said that fans will be allowed to attend sporting activities without wearing masks while international visitors with proof of vaccination will not be required to undergo rapid tests.
He said public service vehicles will henceforth resume full carrying capacity without demanding passengers to wear masks, as the country's positivity rate has dropped to less than 1 per cent.
The Minister clarified that unvaccinated travellers would be subjected to antigen test at their own cost besides self-isolating to avert risk of transmitting the virus to the general population.
He added that at the country's ports of entry, travellers will still be required to fill a locater form, while truck drivers will not require any document including PCR test to facilitate their movements around the country.
He said that the stringent public health measures that were rolled out at the early days of the pandemic two years ago had paid off even as the government remained on the look-out to arrest possible surges.
Kagwe added that the public would still be required to observe hand hygiene and become fully vaccinated to minimize the risk of contracting the virus or succumbing to it.
Kenya reported its first Covid-19 case on March 13, 2020, and since then, 323,140 cases and 5,644 deaths linked to the disease had been recorded in the country.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health indicate that 28.5 per cent of the adult population have been fully vaccinated against the disease.
