Driving past curfew hours without valid emergency reason could render your vehicle insurance invalid, the Insurance association has said.

The Association of Kenya Professional Insurance Agents on Sunday warned motorists to avoid driving past 8pm.

It urged motorists to contact their insurance provider for more information.

This comes two days after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced new containment measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

By Friday, Kenya had hit a positivity rate of 22 per cent, and total infection cases increasing steadily.

Just when we thought the pandemic was under control, it spiked necessitating another lockdown, taking us back to March last year.

According to University of Nairobi associate professor XN Iraki, the lockdown is the suggested gravity to slow down the Covid-19 pendulum. It is amazing how the age-old methods of disease control like lockdowns or quarantines have persisted into the space age.

“This demonstrates our helplessness against nature and this should humble us.”

When he announced the additional measures aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, Uhuru acknowledged that businesses will take a major hit.

“Whereas the foregoing measures will have adverse effects on the economy and constrain our usual way of life, the measures are temporary and necessary to contain the spread of the disease and therefore stop further loss of lives,” said President Kenyatta in his 15th presidential address on coronavirus pandemic on Friday.

A number of business activities will be adversely affected by the partial lockdown of five counties of Nairobi, Nakuru, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado.

Together, these counties control about 38 per cent of Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) valued at Sh2.8 trillion, according to data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Affected counties

With business hours being reduced after the Head of State revised the dusk-to-dawn curfew from 10pm to 4am to 8pm to 4am in the affected counties, there will be fewer transactions, which will translate into less income by both employers and employees.

Some of the businesses that will be directly hit include restaurants and hotels, which have been banned from selling alcohol.