Although Kenya has so far avoided large-scale outbreaks of COVID-19 and its major severity like the one experienced in other countries such as Germany, the Ministry of Health has warned Kenyans against relaxing the usual guidelines laid out to reduce the infections. Lately, a few severe cases have been recorded with thousand of citizens starting to do away with the mask-wearing.

“We will continue to maintain the non-pharmaceutical requirements because that is what really is our first line of defense in terms of curtailing the transmission of the virus. We’re not done with the virus yet, the fact that we have overcome the Omicron wave does not mean we’re done with the virus,” said Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Rashid Aman.

But according to Dr. Githinji Gitahi, the Chief Executive Officer at Amref Health Africa, it is time to reduce mask mandates and accelerate last-mile vaccine access in Africa. He said in a tweet that all signs as of now, indicate we may be moving from a pandemic to endemic phase of COVID-19. He, however, observed that it didn’t mean the mask as a tool for fighting the pandemic was discarded but must be retained and used based on data such as levels of community transmission, location, vaccination rates, hospital capacity, and a policy framework to guide decisions.

Today, Kenya reported 20 COVID-19 positive cases from a sample size of 5,545 tested in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is now at 0.4%. Total confirmed positive cases now stand at 322,517 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 3,304,677. 37 patients have recovered, 32 from the Home-Based Isolation & Care program while 5 are from the various health facilities. Total recoveries now stand at 302,866; 250,079 are from the Home-Based Care & Isolation program, while 52,787 are from various health facilities. No death has been reported. Therefore, the cumulative fatalities remain 5,632.