Covid-19: A look back at tough protocols that contained crisis

Kenyan's walking along Kenyatta Avenue without a facemask after Health CS Mutahi Kagwe announced a lift on mandatory wearing of face-masks in public. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

When Covid-19 emerged as a public health crisis in China in December 2019, many were astonished at how fast the virus spread reaching every corner of the world.

By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organisation had declared it a pandemic.

It was the beginning of a trail of death and suffering, the start of a succession of lockdowns across the globe as countries moved with speed to impose containment measures in order to stem spread of the virus.

In Kenya, the Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of the virus on March 12, 2020.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, on the advice of the National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus Pandemic established through Executive Order No. 2 of 2020 and the National Security Council, moved to impose a raft of measures including cessation of movement across counties, imposing a curfew, mandatory wearing of masks and social distancing as well as use of sanitisers and hand washing in all public spaces.

Learning institutions were shut for nine months, while restaurants, hotels and places of worship had to drastically cut down on their numbers to adhere to social distancing rules.

The period saw many businesses run into losses, sending thousands out of jobs. 'Working from home' became a new phenomenon as organisations sought to scale down the number of employees in the offices .

Many people experienced the crisis far more severely. “Flattening the curve” made little sense in the country whose healthcare system was overwhelmed.

Hope rose at the onset of vaccination last year, with public health officials moving with speed to accelerate vaccination and achieve the much-desired herd immunity to restore normalcy.

As of yesterday, a total of 17,054,582 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, 7,909,933 are partially vaccinated while those fully vaccinated are 7,800,245.

Another 1,081,573 doses were administered to those between 15 to 17 years while 262,831 are booster doses.

Covid-19 cases have significantly reduced in the past one month and as of yesterday, only 20 people had tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 6,123.

Hence, the country positivity rate stands at 0.3 percent.

It was, therefore, quite a relief for the nation when Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe yesterday announced a revision of the containment measures that many had learnt to live with for the past two years.

The new guidelines will now allow the public to stop wearing masks in open spaces.

The CS further announced the resumption of in-person gatherings including indoor meetings and worship activities provided the participants or congregants are fully vaccinated. Positive asymptomatic cases will no longer require isolation but shall observe five days isolation and return to work without need for further testing.

The Health CS also issued guidelines to the Sports and Education ministries for the resumption of sports activities.

“The ministry of Sports should revise protocols for spectators to be allowed back into the sporting venues as long as they are vaccinated,” said Kagwe.

Even as the public soaks in the news, scientists and public health officials, have however, warned that moves to ease regulations could be premature at this stage in the pandemic.

They observe it is too early to lower the guard as many people are asymptomatic with a likelihood of reoccurring waves while insisting on caution to be highly considered.

An epidemiologist and researcher at Kenya Medical Research Institution (KEMRI) Frank Angira said more time should be taken to monitor the transmission rates.

“We have had goodwill from the public, in case of a surge it will be a struggle to enforce the restrictions,” Angira said.

The medic explained that relaxing of precautions must be done carefully, and slowly – watching the indicators for hospitals, ICU among other essential supplies.

In January, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned governments around the world against easing Covid-19 restrictions too soon, saying countries that did so risked paying a heavy price for rushing back to normality.

Later, the agency released a guide to help countries easing Covid-19 restrictions adjust to large-scale public health and social measures.

Prof Omu Anzala, a virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi, said the revised measures are in order but added  that there is a need to be cautious.

“It is time to withdraw the restrictions step by step, but we should continue to be careful,” Anzala said.

University of Nairobi Co-director, Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis and Associate Professor, Washington State University, Prof Thumbi Mwang observed that lifting wearing of masks in public spaces and a review of religious gatherings and in meetings are big takeaways from the CS's announcement.

He linked the new measures to a drop in the number of cases of Covid-19 circulating in a vaccinated population and having a good proportion that was exposed and developed immunity naturally.

“We see less and less of the infection circulating which means wearing face masks is not playing a big role,” Mwangi said.

The scientist acknowledges the use of science and scientific evidence in the country in handling the disease, since the onset of the pandemic.

“Kenya has tried to use the best of science it has. When there was a need to close the country, it was done and now with the positivity rate at less than one percent, some measures can be dropped” he explained.

He added: “The big lesson learnt is that we get emergencies in a very unexpected way which lead to deaths among other losses making it key to continue strengthening our health systems and develop a system that can respond to future pandemics and epidemics.”

He too urged the public to remain cautious: “As we observed last year, there was a new variant which was highly transmissible with back and forth waves," he said.

Prof Mwangi says there is need to strengthen the country's surveillance system to detect new cases and possible waves earlier, and enforce appropriate measures to stop spread of the disease.

Despite the move to lift restrictions and shifting public sentiment, a number of people with underlying conditions, as well as the elderly, remain vulnerable and worry about the swift changes.