The Ministry of Health on Tuesday, September 1, warned Kenyans against holding large gatherings, indicating that the number of individuals allowed to attend weddings, funerals is still limited to 15.
During the daily Covid-19 briefings held at Afya House, the Director of Public Health Dr. Francis Kuria indicated that the number of people allowed to attend weddings and funerals, had not changed.
This is after the president announced that the maximum number of persons permitted to attend social gatherings had been reviewed upwards to 100, with all in attendance abiding with the Ministry of Health Protocols.
Kuria was forced to respond after the Ministry received more than 500 calls on Tuesday morning enquiring on whether gatherings of 100 individuals were being allowed.
“Gatherings have not been allowed as yet. The president was very clear that he was in consultation with the interfaith council to increase the numbers to 100. He never lifted any restrictions on social gatherings," Kuria stated.
Weighing in on the matter, Health CAS Dr. Rashid Aman insisted that large gatherings were fertile grounds for the transmission of the virus.
Aman announced that 114 more Covid-19 positive cases in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of cases in the country to 34,315.
"We need not to feel that we are out of the woods and start rejoicing. We need to continue with various preventive measures in place to break the transmission cycle before we declare that the curve has flattened. We are moving in the right direction," he stated.
While responding to the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding Kenya's interpretation of Covid-19 data, the CAS explained that there had been a challenge in contact tracing especially in hotspot areas like Nairobi.
"Exponential numbers make tracing difficult," he remarked.
