President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday updated the country on the Covid-19 disease in the country, saying nine more people had tested positive for the virus.

President Kenyatta said this raised the total number of confirmed cases in Kenya, since the virus was first reported on March 13, to 234.

He said the number of recoveries remained 53, as announced by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe in the daily update on Wednesday, and that the number of deaths had risen to 11.

The President said the nine new patients were among 704 people who were tested in the last 24 hours.

He also announced that nearly 1,000 people were under quarantine while at least 156 were in isolation facilities.

OTHER MEASURES

Efforts to protect Kenyans from the virus have so far seen President Kenyatta issue orders including a nationwide 7pm to 5am curfew, cessation of movement into and out of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties and the suspension of international flights.

In his address from State House in Nairobi on Thursday, the President added that:

The Health and Public Service ministries will develop a welfare package to cushion frontline health workers.

The Education ministry will take steps to protect students from negative impacts of measures taken against Covid-19.

The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority will waive for three months, the requirement for counties to purchase locally manufactured personal protective equipment.

Identified needy households in Nairobi and will be the initial beneficiaries of the government stipend to cushion vulnerable Kenyans.

Parliament will consider the legislative proposals in the house towards economic relief.

The government will supplement counties' efforts by sending them a total of Sh5 billion.

The elderly and people with special needs will receive Sh8.5 billion and Sh500 million respectively, amounts which the government has already disbursed.

To ensure donations are distributed in a safe manner, the Kenya Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund and relevant security agencies will coordinate initiatives such as the Adopt a Needy Family Programme, through which Kenyans are helping each other during the pandemic, to ensure responsiveness and no bureaucracy.

Any police officer who breaches the law while implementing measures to curb spread of the virus will face harsh sanctions.

OTHER PLANS

While echoing CS Kagwe's appeal for the public to be caution, President Kenyatta said "we are not out of the woods yet" but assured that his team was working to ensure stability and mitigation against negative impacts of the virus.

He spoke of the formulation of Kenya’s post-Covid-19 economic plan, urged Parliament to expedite the passing of measures to cushion Kenyans and said discussions with other countries on the suspension of debt were taking place.

The President said the African Development Bank (AfDb) and the Africa Export-Import Bank were among those that had offered credit facilities.

On Wednesday, the G20 nations announced that they had suspended the repayment of debt by the world's poorest countries for a period of 12 months, as they deal with the pandemic.

President Kenyatta also said officials were paying attention to critical national matters such as national exams, which take place towards the end of the year.

He further thanked parties including students at Kenyatta University, who have invented an inexpensive ventilator, and organisations such as the Kitui Textile Factory and the National Youth Service for the steps they have taken to help fight the virus.

The President further thanked the public for financial donations through the emergency response fund, that he said were nearing Sh1 billion.

"I also thank and praise our health workers for the work they are doing and our media who have shown patriotism and civic duty in their coverage," he said.

He told the public, "We must protect our lives, our economy and national peace. I ask all of you to protect our families, our communities and our country."



TESTING CAPACITY

Meanwhile, Kenya has received nearly 40,000 testing kits amid steps to increase its testing capacity in line with the three-fold approach of testing, isolating and treating.

The Health ministry announced on Wednesday that the country had received items including 18,900 swabs and viral transport medium and 18,912 extraction kits.

Also received were 3,790 disposable protective clothing for medical workers, thermometer guns, medical gloves and ventilation machines from Chinese businessman Jack Ma of the Alibaba Group.

The minister said Kenya had also received consignments of gloves, face shields, gowns and surgical masks from China, France and Germany through the World Health Organization (WHO).

STATISTICS

The coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019.

Since then, it has quickly spread across the world and infected at least 2,096,573 people, according to Worldometer's tally on April 16.