Accessibility links

Breaking News

Kenya Taking Drastic Measures to Curb Coronavirus Spread


A woman stands outside a shop at the end of a night-long curfew ordered by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease in Nairobi, Kenya on March 28, 2020.
A woman stands outside a shop at the end of a night-long curfew ordered by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease in Nairobi, Kenya on March 28, 2020.

Kenya’s government is implementing drastic measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, although the country has only 31 confirmed cases of infection.

A curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. was enforced Friday, and all international flights have been suspended.

Economists have warned that any lockdowns must be accompanied by a plan for how the poor will have access to basic items, otherwise the eruption of violence is likely.

"If the government does put in place 24-hour lockdown, or maybe several days lockdown, there is bound to be violence because you have to have a lockdown with a plan of how people will access food,” Kenyan economist James Shikwati said.

Thousands of Kenyans have lost their jobs already due to social distancing.

Kenya reported its first death from COVID-19 Thursday.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG