NAIROBI MARCH 26, 2020 — Kenya, on Thursday confirmed its first Coronavirus (COVID-19) death after a 66-year-old male Kenyan citizen passed on in the afternoon as confirmed cases rise to 31.
Mutahi Kagwe, the country’s health minister, said the patient who was suffering from diabetes arrived in the country on March 13 from South Africa from Swaziland and had been treated at Aga Khan, a private hospital in Nairobi.
“He died this afternoon at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where he had been admitted,” said Kagwe in a statement.
The ‘sad’ news came barely hours after a 27-year-old Kenyan who had tested positive on March 13 recovered from the virus after a test analysis.
The reported recovery gave Kenya a much-awaited hope against the pandemic, with so far five of its 47 counties having reported confirmed cases.
Amidst increasing fears over the virus, the country’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, when he addressed the nation on Wednesday announced measures meant to help prevent its spread.
So far, since the virus’ outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December last year, it has spread to at least 175 countries and territories as per data compiled by the United States-based Johns Hopkins University.
And with over 2,400 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the African continent, the continued growth of reported cases poses major challenges for the continent’s under-resourced healthcare services.
Kenya will go into a lock-down beginning Friday March 27 every day from 7 pm to 5 am in an attempt to avoid a catastrophe, said the president, Uhuru Kenyatta when he addressed the nation.
In Kenya, the announced lock-down seeks to confine all persons excluding medical professionals, health workers, critical and essential service providers.
Most African nations have imposed restrictions and taken a range of extraordinary measures to try to combat the crisis. Many flights have been suspended, with entries for travelers from much of Europe and the US effectively impossible.
Other countries that have imposed curfews and lock-down in recent days in Africa include Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
President Uhuru further announced that he and other top Kenyan officials would have salaries, while countries like DRC is seeking to isolate its capital, Kinshasa from the rest of the country, as Ethiopia is planning to release more than 4,000 prisoners as one way of de-congesting crowded jails.
There are fears that lockdown will bring significant hardship for the continent’s poor, many of whom live hand to mouth without formal employment.
African governments are now worried if the virus spreads through crowded cities, and places like refugee camps as its healthcare systems can only deal with a fraction of those needing care from the virus.
Other measures announced by President Uhuru include implementation of a 100 percent tax relief to increase disposable income, with the country’s Labour and Social Protection ministry appropriating $95 million for the elderly, orphans and other vulnerable citizens through cash-transfers to cushion them from adverse economic effects of the pandemic.