Every Kenyan visiting a supermarket or an open-air market will now be required to wear a mask in a new directive by the Ministry of Health
Health CS Mutai Kagwe on Saturday said this will enable the government to tame the spread of COVID-19.
“Any person visiting a supermarket or any other open-air market should immediately wear a face mask,” the CS stated.
He spoke as he released the latest statistics on the number of new infections which were only four, putting the total number of patients testing positive for coronavirus at 126. Four people, including a six-year-old-boy, have since passed on.
However, Kenyans have been urged to only buy three-layered masks which are effective in preventing the spread of the virus.
So far, one million masks have been produced in the country with prices expected to be on the lows of Sh20 for every mask.
The CS added that those in quarantine facilities where some of the patients have tested positive will have to spend 14 more days in the centres for further tests to ascertain if or not they are infected.
Director-General in the Ministry of Health Dr Patrick Amoth said the directive is informed by the fact that they had close contact with patients who were in the same facility who have now tested positive.
“It is therefore impossible to determine whether those who were quarantined in the facilities are actually safe to be released into the general population,” Amoth said.
In light of this, the ministry imposed the social distancing rule in all quarantine centres as second tests for coronavirus are conducted.
Public service transport operators, boda bodas, and tuk tuks are now required to have every passenger and the crew wear a mask at all times while travelling.
The government has also operationalized Kenyatta University Hospital where 20 COVID-19 patients have been admitted.
