Kenyans Must Now Wear Masks In Public – MoH

The government, through the Ministry of Health, CS Mutahi Kagwe has ordered the return of mandatory mask mandates over the increase of Covid-19 cases in the country.

Addressing the media on Monday 20^th, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said members of the public will be required to wear face masks in confined places such as PSVs, aircraft, offices, supermarkets, and places of worship.

The requirement, however, will not apply when Kenyans are spending time in open public spaces such as when walking or jogging.

“We have seen situations like in political indoor meetings where we are seeing super spreading of COVID-19… we also require worshippers to wear face masks when inside places of worship,” said Kagwe.

CS Kagwe further called on Kenyans who have not been vaccinated to do so immediately. “Those who have not been vaccinated should do so immediately. Those who have been vaccinated and need a booster shot should do so immediately,” said Kagwe.

According to CS, all unvaccinated travelers arriving at any port of entry into Kenya will be required to be in possession of a negative PCR test result conducted not more than 72 hours before departure.

The move comes as Kenya battles the sixth wave of COVID-19. In its June 19 update, the Ministry of Health reported 246 new Covid-19 cases from a sample size of 2,484 tests, pushing the daily positivity rate to 9.9 percent.

Kenya lifted COVID-19 prevention measures, including wearing face masks in public and restrictions on gatherings in March 2022 after sustaining a less than one percent positivity case rate.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report on COVID-19 which places Kenya among the countries experiencing the sixth wave of the coronavirus pandemic last week.

According to the report released on Thursday 23^rd, 2022, Kenya and Mauritius are the only two nations classified in the said category among the 54 African Union (AU) member states following the recent surge in cases.

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