"Many countries have decided to apply very strict restrictions during this new wave and are seeing results, we would not like to reach this situation, we would not like to have to go back to a lockdown, but if the situation does not improve we should think about stringent measures such as those of last year'.
The worried words of the Director of Health Mercy Mwangangi, the operational arm of Minister Mutahi Kagwe, at the end of the press conference that illustrated the growing number of cases, deaths and admissions to intensive care in Kenya, do not bode well for the coming days and in view of the Easter holidays that could mean an exodus from Nairobi to the native villages or holiday resorts for thousands of citizens.
Yesterday, four more MPs were admitted to hospitals in the capital, and one is already in the intensive care unit.
Mercy Mwangangi issued a warning to the nation, which she said had forgotten about the restrictions and the danger that the country could see a further large increase in cases of Covid-19 and serious situations and deaths.
The next few days will certainly be decisive, with the 17% figure that absolutely must come down if the borders of the counties, specifically those in the Rift Valley where most of the infections are recorded, are not to be closed. Closing the capital would mean inhibiting travel and putting tourism in crisis for the umpteenth time, but perhaps it is the wisest solution at the moment, also because after Easter the tourist season is usually considered closed.
On the one hand, there would be the hypothesis of making money for hotels and activities that have suffered so much in the last year, on the other hand there is scepticism about how the protocols are applied and the real perception of danger by the majority of Kenyans.
We will therefore see in the next few days what the government's decisions will be after the Health Director's warning. Minister Kagwe had already asked the county governors to tighten controls on those who do not respect the rules. Yesterday some governors, especially in the Lake Victoria area, applied extra caution measures and in turn threatened closures of their borders. On the coast, the situation remains better, on an official level, but this is certainly not an authorisation to consider oneself exempt from the next new wave.