The Government has finally cleared the air on possible lock down of the country as a measure to contain coronavirus pandemic.
Kenyans have been speculating that the country is planning for a lock down, with some Kenyans speculating that the possible lock down could start this week.
However, while appearing in a video interview at K24 TV in a show dubbed punchline on Sunday night, government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said Kenya has not yet reached to point of locking down.
Oguna said that the country is not yet ready to declare a lockdown since the cases have only been reported in seven counties, with most of them concentrated in one county.
“The first factor would be the eruption of infections sustained in many counties and the health systems are overwhelmed. Right now we are talking about 7 counties,’ he said.
Oguna was clear that locking down the nation is not a one man decision, citing that all government agencies have to put their heads together before coming up with such a decision.
Instead, he said that they were urging people to obey the directives issued by the government to ensure that the number of confirmed cases remain the way they are.
“We don’t have to lockdown everything. It is not a one man decision, it is a decision to be made by a committee. All these agencies need to put their heads together. There are several options but we are urging people to obey the directives issued to ensure numbers remain where they are,” Oguna said.
Oguna said the coronavirus situation is not dire enough to be categorised as a national disaster.
Further, Oguna said that even if a lockdown is ordered, it may not be a total lockdown of all the 47 counties.
So far, Kenya has had a total of 142 confirmed coronavirus cases, with four recoveries and four deaths.