Covid-19 curve flattening, but let's not rejoice early – Uhuru

President Uhuru Kenyatta has today asked Kenyans against premature celebrations as the number of positive Covid-19 cases take a nosedive.

He was speaking at a virtual pandemic response summit to discuss the State’s post-virus recovery plan.

The day-long County Governments Covid-19 Virtual Conference comes as the country continues to take stock of the devastation wrought by the pandemic and the responses so far.

"The good news is that in the middle of this crisis, the curve is beginning to flatten. However, we must not celebrate this happy moment too soon but rather celebrate it with a great deal of caution," said President Uhuru.

He asked all stakeholders at the helm of the fight with Covid-19 to shift their focus to strategies that predict how to deal with the pandemic.

"If indeed we are to shift our response from tactic to strategic intervention, we must do a simulation of how this will work. A shift from symptomatic response of Covid-19 to structural response under universal health coverage must be well thought out," he said.

The president challenged the leaders to think about how the response might have an impact on areas such as the environment and how it compared to what others around the world are doing.

"Is there something we could have done better and are there lessons we could carry with this to the strategic phase of this war?" he posed.

Uhuru said he hoped the conference could shed light on how to promote preventative medicine over symptomatic care which is used in the country.

"This conference of leaders, experts and stakeholders should use pre-mortem analysis to guide us on how to use positive resilience out of the Covid experience. We must use this experience and lesson learnt to build much better and creating a society much capable of absorbing shock and emerging on top."

With 33,016 positive Covid-19 cases in the country and 564 deaths as at yesterday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has expressed optimism that the country has come a long way in dealing with the pandemic.

"Let’s never forget where we were when this pandemic started, we had eight beds in the whole country. Today, virtually each county has got a higher capacity than the entire country had when we began this,” said CS Kagwe.

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa also advised Kenya to take this pandemic as a learning opportunity to deal with future disasters.

The CS who recounted how Kenya has dealt with a famine, floods and later a locust invasion, noted the country should be ready to plan for disasters.

"We urge the counties to learn from the experience we’ve had during this trying period. Set aside enough emergency funds as we’ve always talked about so that we are better prepared for future pandemics," said CS Wamalwa.

With the coronavirus infection rate at eight per cent, President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked Kenyans to grow as a society capable of absorbing shock, emerging on-top and be a society that unites when called upon to do so in the face of monumental challenges.

"I challenge all of us to reflect on how we can position our country to emerge stronger and more responsive state from the current pandemic," he said.