Kenya has officially lifted its remaining COVID-19 restrictions.
There is no longer a ban on large indoor gatherings such as religious services or a requirement to present a negative COVID-19 test for arriving air passengers.
Although restrictions have been lifted, Kenyans have been encouraged to adhere to Covid 19 safety measures like sanitizing and social distancing.
Face masks are no longer mandatory in public and all quarantine measures for confirmed COVID-19 cases have been halted with immediate effect. For the past month, the East African country’s COVID-19 test positivity rate has remained below 1%.
Nearly 29% of Kenyan adults are fully vaccinated, more than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and this could have been a key motivator to removing the restrictions.
With a population of 54 million, Kenya recorded less than 35 daily COVID infections over the past week, according to government statistics. About 323,000 infections, and 5,600 deaths, have been recorded throughout the pandemic since 2020.
Kenya joins other countries like South Africa, Namibia, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Israel and El Salvador. South Africa led the pack earlier this year being the first South African country to remove their Covid 19 restrictions.
Zimbabwe is currently under a level two lockdown and has been so for months now since the Omicron variant entered the country. There has been a recent spike of new infections ranging from 200 to 700 since children returned to school. However, there haven’t been many deaths. The ministry of health claims that a total of 4 401 450 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to date.
So why is Zimbabwe still under lockdown given the numbers? Although there is a lockdown, people pretty much do whatever they want whenever they want. There is no social distancing in public places especially in queues and in public transport.