President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to make an impromptu address to the nation on Monday, July 27, at 3 p.m. following the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the country.
His address will come after the conclusion of the eagerly-anticipated extraordinary summit with governors which is likely to influence decisions on what is next for the country.
The summit was scheduled for Friday, July 24, but was moved forward, with reports indicating that the governors were yet to come to a consensus over the next step.
President Uhuru, during his last address, made it clear that ordering for another lockdown was a possibility.
"The order to re-open is given conditionally. Should the situation deteriorate and pose a challenge to our health infrastructure, it shall be ‘clawed back’. In the next 21 days, we shall study patterns of interactions and the spread of the disease. Any trends that signal a worsening of the pandemic, we will have no choice but to return to the lock-down at zero-option," he stated at the time.
A total 2,002 patients have tested positive for Covid-19, over the last weekend (Friday, July 24, to Sunday, July, 26) alone, with the country witnessing the highest ever number recorded within a 24-hour period when 960 tested positive with the virus on July 26.
On July 6, President Uhuru announced the end of cessation of movement in Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera counties and urged Kenyans to adhere to the directives issued by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The restriction of movement in the three counties had been imposed because of the upsurge of coronavirus cases in the country.
However, Kenya has since seen a major spike in confirmed cases, with Nairobi registering 10,288 Covid-19 cases since the first case was reported in March 2020.
On July 26, the capital city reported the highest number of cases to date, when the MoH announced a total of 510 people had tested positive.
Whether or not to impose another lockdown is the key issue in today's extraordinary summit, with the President looking to the key stakeholders to offer critical information to aid him in making his eagerly awaited address to the nation.
Reports indicated that a meeting held by governors on Thursday, July 24, was inconclusive as the governors could not find common ground on how to go about the impeding lockdown.
Some suggested locking down the three counties of West Pokot, Baringo and Samburu that have not registered cases yet.
Watch President Uhuru's last address to the Nation below:
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