Unmasked: Mutahi Kagwe announces review of health restrictions

CS Mutahi Kagwe remove his mask at his office before announcing the lift of ban on wearing of masks in public places urging Kenyans to take full responsibility by taking full vaccination. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The government has lifted the mandatory wearing of face masks in public spaces and stopped temperature checks in a major review of Covid-19 protocols.

Public transport will also resume fully with vehicles allowed to carry passengers to full capacity.

And those coming into the country having been fully vaccinated will not be subjected to fresh tests, according to the reviewed protocols announced by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe yesterday.

The CS also announced resumption of spectator attendance at sports venues with requirement that the relevant ministry comes up with operational guidelines.

“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.

He added: “To the Ministry of Education, develop and implement protocols to allow for the full resumption of sporting activities in learning institutions.”

Kagwe also lifted the requirement for temperature screenings at public spaces, noting that the practice has little to no use in detecting the virus.

“It has been noted that majority of Covid-19 cases present without fever. As such, the use of temperature screenings has little utility. In this regard, the practice can be stopped,”said Kagwe.

Kagwe further announced the resumption of in-person gatherings including indoor meetings and worship activities provided the participants or congregants are fully vaccinated.

“All in-person worship and indoor meetings to resume at full capacity as long as all the congregants and participants are vaccinated,” he said.

“The Interfaith Council is urged to develop protocols to facilitate resumption of full congregational worship with full capacity of venues where all congregants are vaccinated,” he added.

However, it is the lifting of the mandatory use of masks that caught many Kenyans by surprise.

 “There has been a lot of debate and discussion on the use of facemasks as a containment measure. The mandatory wearing of facemasks in open public spaces is now lifted,” said Kagwe.

He however asked Kenyans to exercise caution in crowded places.

“Nonetheless, maintain social distancing and avoid crowding in public spaces to reduce the risk of spread. We, however, encourage the use of facemasks in all indoor functions,” he added.

Kagwe, who was speaking at the ministry’s headquarters in Nairobi, said that the decision to review the protocols was informed by careful analysis of the spread of the virus.

“Because of these measures, our positivity rate has remained below five per cent and in the past month, our positivity rate has been one per cent and below,” said Kagwe.

Kagwe urged Kenyans to ensure that handwashing and sanitising are a normal practice in gatherings and that organisers will take responsibility for those unvaccinated in events.

The Health CS announced that all public means of transport are to resume operations in full capacity provided staff are fully vaccinated and passengers wear facemasks.

For international travel, fully vaccinated travelers will be exempted a PCR test while unvaccinated travellers entering into the country will be required to undergo a negative Covid-19 test.

“Travellers who are fully vaccinated shall be exempted from the requirements of a PCR test,” he said.

“Vaccinated travellers arriving at any into Kenya must have a negative PCR test result conducted not more than 72 hours before departure regardless of the route of entry,” he added.

Travellers below the age of five shall be exempted from the testing requirements. Further, the CS declared quarantine to be stopped for both vaccinated and unvaccinated contacts.

He said positive asymptomatic cases will not require isolation but shall observe five days isolation and return to work without need for further testing.

In reviewing the protocols, Kagwe said the government had been conducting periodic reviews of the measures based on guidance from the World Health Organisation, public health considerations and the evolving situation globally.

The CS attributed low infection rate to the containment measures and citizens’ willingness to get vaccinated.

Kagwe said the government has so far managed to administer over 17.8 million vaccines nationwide and they are looking to scale-up the vaccination campaign.

“We are scaling up the vaccination campaign by leveraging on government agencies, county governments, faith based organizations and the Private Sector,” said Kagwe.

“It is only through these efforts that we shall ensure a return to normalcy as vaccination is the proven long-term measure for halting the pandemic,” he added.

CS Kagwe further assured that there are enough doses of vaccines for all eligible Kenyans.

The review of the protocols is a major reprieve to Kenyans in the fight against the pandemic.