The government has revised dusk to dawn curfew hours for 13 counties in the Western, Nyanza and Rift Valley region from 10pm to 7pm.
The curfew has been imposed in Counties; Busia, Vihiga, Kisii, Nyamira, Kakamega, Kericho, Bomet, Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia, Kisumu, Siaya, Homa-Bay and Migori.
The counties were declared Covid-19 hotspot zones and the order takes effect tomorrow.
In an announcement, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the move has been arrived at to reduce the Covid-19 positivity rate in the regional areas.
“That the curfew within the hotspot zone shall be observed between 7pm and 4am daily. However, ongoing nationwide curfew shall continue to be observed in the rest of the country, from 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. daily,” Mutahi said.
However, the curfew exempts essential and emergency services in the hotspot zones.
Mutahi also barred all public gatherings and in-person meetings of whatever nature are prohibited within the Hotspot Zone, including house parties and sporting activities to contain the spike.
All funerals and interment ceremonies within the hotspot zone are to be conducted within 72 hours of confirmation of death.
The attendees, officiators, and facilitators of weddings, celebrations of marriage or traditional unions, ceremonies of rites of passage, and all other similar events or ceremonies is maintained at 30 persons in total until further notice
“All forms of physical/congressional worship (churches, mosques, temples and shrines) in the hotspot counties are suspended for a period of 30 days,” said Kagwe.
Hospitals within the hotspot zone are directed to limit the number of visitors for hospitalized patients to one (1) visitor per patient per time until further notice.
This comes a day after Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said that the government will introduce new containment measures in Nyanza region to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Speaking at Kenya School of Government, Matiang’i said that the containment measures was to deal with movement and social activities restriction.
“We are now looking at the Covid-19 infections surge in the Western part of Kenya and we shall meet this week in a bid to introduce new containment measures that deal with movement and social activities, to contain Covid-19 in the area,” he said.
According to Matiang’i, managing Covid-19 has been a hard task but with coordination from the Ministry of Health, they have not been defeated.