Kenya Insights

Category: Coronavirus

  • Key Coronavirus Hospital In China Is Using HIV Drug To Treat Covid19 Patients

    Key Coronavirus Hospital In China Is Using HIV Drug To Treat Covid19 Patients

    WUHAN, China (Reuters) – Chinese doctors at the primary hospital treating severe coronavirus patients in the city of Wuhan said they have been using the HIV drug Kaletra since January and believe it is beneficial, despite a previous study that it was ineffective.

    They have been prescribing Kaletra, an off-patent version of lopinavir/ritonavir produced by AbbVie, as well as a second drug, bismuth potassium citrate, said Zhang Dingyu, the president of the Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, where the disease originated late last year.

    “We believe taking this drug is beneficial,” Zhang told reporters on Thursday in reference to Kaletra.

    He said doctors at Jinyintan had started prescribing the drug to their patients on Jan. 6. It was one of the first hospitals to start treating infections after the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan in December.

    At the height of the epidemic in the city, Jinyintan was treating close to 500 coronavirus patients, he said. It currently still has 123 under observation, he said.

    A study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, based on a test in Chinese patients with severe COVID-19 at Jinyintan, said that Kaletra, also known as Aluvia, was not effective as a potential treatment.

    Last month, Israel approved the licensing of a generic version of Kaletra to treat patients infected with the coronavirus.

    Zhang said the data set used by the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine had included patients who had not taken the drug before passing away, and others whose doctors had decided against prescribing it.

    “You have to look at the supplementary material,” he said.

    He said three medical workers had started taking Kaletra 2-3 days after symptoms of the virus surfaced. “Towards the end of taking the drug, the changes their lungs experienced were really great.”

    Doctors in Shanghai also prescribed Kaletra, in combination with the flu drug arbidol and traditional Chinese medicine, and said some patients showed positive improvements, according to a study published by the BioScience Trends journal in February.

    Kaletra was also associated with positive therapeutic outcomes in the treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), according to previous studies.

    FILE PHOTO: Inpatient building is seen at the Jinyintan hospital, where the patients with coronavirus are being treated, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

    “DRUGS HAVE SOME USE”

    The second drug used at Jinyintan Hospital, bismuth potassium citrate, had also been found in 2003 during the SARS outbreak to have some effect on coronaviruses at the cellular level, hence the decision to prescribe it with Kaletra, said Zhang.

    The hospital prescribed bismuth potassium citrate to many of its staff after some of them were infected, and after that did not encounter any other cluster infections, Zhang said.

    “The overall research is not over but everyone has a feeling – it is just a feeling – but it is that these drugs have some use,” he said.

    Plasma therapy using the blood of patients who had recovered from the virus was a third treatment doctors were particularly interested in, Zhang said, noting that one patient who had been on a ventilator had been able to remove the tubes and walk out of hospital soon after he had received it.

    The fact that there are so many patients in world now – nearly 1.5 million have been infected by COVID-19 – meant that this was definitely a potentially helpful option, Zhang said.

    Over 20 percent of the infected are reported to have recovered, according to a Reuters tally.

    ((Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.))

    In response to a question on whether the hospital had used malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine on its patients, which have been persistently promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, Zhang said they had not used the former.

    Some of its patients, however, had opted to take hydroxychloroquine themselves but reported mixed results, he said. Some said it helped but others said it was ineffective.

    Some patients had used some chloroquine, which is included in China’s National Commission’s treatment guidelines, after hearing that it had some early-stage usefulness, but there were concerns about dosage levels.

    “Hydroxychloroquine’s toxicity is much better than chloroquine but we received hydroxychloroquine quite late so did not try it,” Zhang said.

    And based on patients’ reviews, there was no scientific conclusion for hydroxychloroquine’s effectiveness, he said.

  • Kenya: The Anger In Covid-19 Mandatory Quarantine

    Kenya: The Anger In Covid-19 Mandatory Quarantine

    Nairobi (AFP) – Hundreds of people held under mandatory quarantine in Kenya after returning from abroad are up in arms after the government extended their confinement for another 14 days.

    Around 2,000 people were placed in forced quarantine as they arrived in the country from March 22 until international flights were banned three days later, a chaotic process criticised by some passengers as likely to have helped spread the virus.

    Mixed with those who had been in contact with patients who tested positive, the quarantined Kenyans and foreigners make up some 80 percent of the country’s coronavirus patients.

    As of Monday at 1400 GMT the country had recorded 172 cases and six deaths.

    Health ministry guidelines initially said that those quarantined would be tested after five days and if their results were negative they would be sent home to self-isolate. Those testing positive would be taken to treatment centres.

    An unknown number were discharged. However the rest who had hoped for freedom after their two weeks were up were stunned when the government on Saturday ordered a 14-day extension of quarantine for those in facilities that had registered a positive case.

    “We are now asking to go home. They test us, if you’re positive, go to hospital, if you’re negative, go home,” said one of those stuck in quarantine who requested anonymity.

    Some of those confined are contesting the move and have sent legal letters to the police and health ministry, which were seen by AFP, demanding their immediate release.

    “We are aware that this may be inconveniencing to some but in the interest of protecting the public, it is nonetheless very necessary,” Health Minister Mutahi Kawge said on Tuesday.

    – ‘Prison rations’ –

    Another person in quarantine, using the pseudonym Luke, told AFP the whole process had got off to a bad start.

    Upon his arrival at the international airport in Nairobi on March 24, he said passengers were rounded up by aggressive police officers who were not wearing protection gear.

    He described “hundreds of people, tense, sweating, in a small space, in an airport that has turned off its ventilation” who after hours of waiting were herded into crowded buses.

    “There are no doctors or medical staff anywhere. There is no hand sanitiser. There are no gloves. There are no masks. It’s after midnight and everyone looks broken,” he recalled.

    The passengers have been forced to pay for their own accommodation, from $20 (18 euros) to $90 a night in often unsanitary conditions.

    “The meals mimic prison rations, and there aren’t enough for everyone,” Luke said.

    On Sunday, after learning their confinement would be extended, Sheila posted a video on social media denouncing conditions at a school in Nairobi where she was being held.

    “We don’t have water at times, we lack soap, we don’t have masks,” she said in the video, adding that they had to wash their own clothes.

    She told AFP that five people who had been tested on March 29, and found out on April 2 they were positive for coronavirus, were not removed from the school until two days later.

    “We came back to our own country. It’s like we’re getting punished for coming home,” she said in the video.

    “We’re also humans, we’re also Kenyans, we also need to survive this thing.”

  • Politicians In A Circulated List Of Confirmed Positive Covid-19 Cases Come Out Clean

    Politicians In A Circulated List Of Confirmed Positive Covid-19 Cases Come Out Clean

    Local dailies and blogs have been running the story of panic gripping the parliament and senate over claims that 17 MPs and senators were tested positive for the coronavirus.

    While specific names were not given out, Wednesday morning an unconfirmed list was circulated especially on WhatsApp.

    However, the list that we can’t post given it’s lack of authenticity has ignited reactions from some of the politicians named as positive.

    https://www.facebook.com/1068456434/posts/10219434191459982/

    Speaker Justin Muturi and majority leader Aden Duale have denied reports that 17 MPS have been infected with COVID-19 as multiple sources at parliament buildings told journalists that there could be several legislators who tested positive for Coronavirus in the country.

  • Social Distancing Works; Here’s The Maths

    Social Distancing Works; Here’s The Maths

    Considerable uncertainty surrounds Covid-19 – how long it will take before a vaccine is developed, the death rate amongst cases and even how many cases there have been so far. But there is one thing of which we can be sure: social distancing works, according to a mathematical modelling expert from Oxford University.

    Dr Robin Thompson, a junior research fellow in mathematical epidemiology, has crunched the numbers and found social distancing can reduce pass-on rates of Covid-19 substantially. His mathematical modelling, based on measures now in place to reduce person-to-person contact, reveals a scenario in which case numbers could be reduced by almost 90%:

    • Without social distancing, one coronavirus sufferer could, in six weeks, have started chains of transmission with 1,093 cases;
    • With social distancing, the same sufferer could, in six weeks have started chains of transmission with 127 cases.

    Dr Thompson’s work is based on the reasoning that one individual with Covid-19 will pass it onto three other people over the course of their infection. In a further week, each of the three will have passed it onto another three people. Each week, each person will infect three more people, so that, after six weeks, the initial individual will have started a chain of transmission leading to more than 1,000 cases, says Dr Thompson.

    But, the mathematician says, introduce social distancing and the picture is very different. If we are all able to reduce our effective contacts by one third, there is a dramatic difference in the numbers of infections. On this basis, after six weeks, there would be 127 cases in total.

    Social distancing, he maintains, removes any question of people wondering whether they or a particular individual has the infection. Dr Thompson says: ‘Social distancing is of clear public health importance. It involves all of us reducing our contacts, irrespective of whether or not we think we are carrying the virus. It means that infected individuals are less likely to transmit the virus, and healthy individuals are less likely to contract it.’

    Dr Thompson points out it is particularly relevant to Covid-19: ‘It’s very hard to self-determine whether or not we’re infected. Even if we are carrying the virus, we may have no or very few symptoms. We could therefore be spreading the virus without even knowing it.’

    He says most people are following the social distancing measures and reducing their social contacts. But he says: ‘We all need to go shopping sometimes. However, by following social distancing, we can all make a difference.’

    He insists: ‘It’s all of our responsibility to avoid going on a hike where lots of people group together…Social distancing works.’

    Dr Thompson also notes that, while social distancing is currently necessary, it is not required for outbreaks of other diseases: ‘For SARS, social distancing measures were not required because infectious individuals displayed clear symptoms. As a result, the outbreak could be controlled by finding and isolating symptomatic cases. That appears not to be the situation for Covid-19, due to the wide spectrum of symptoms.’

    The results of social distancing may not be seen immediately, according to Dr Thompson, because of the time lag between transmissions and individuals becoming infected and displaying symptoms. However, as his calculation demonstrates, measures implemented now can be expected to have substantial effects on future case numbers.

  • How The Government Plans To Get Rid Of Coronavirus Victims Bodies

    How The Government Plans To Get Rid Of Coronavirus Victims Bodies

    The Kenyan government has given the kin of people who succumb to the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) 24 hours to pick up their bodies’ failure to which the government will dispose of the bodies at the nearest cemetery.

    This is a move by the government to avoid Chief Government a pile-up of bodies which Pathologist Johansen Oduor says could be potentially infectious.

    “To avoid a situation where we have so many bodies lying in the mortuary and these are bodies that are potentially infectious we came to that decision of having that directive that bodies be buried within 24 hours of death,” Oduor said on TV.

    Failure to claim the bodies will result in the government will have the body interred at the nearest cemetery. “As a government, we are going to assist the family transport the body to the place of burial so the question of cost will not come in… Just in case nobody appears within 24 hours we are going to bury the body at the nearest cemetery to where the person died.”

    As part of prevention procedures, bodies of victims who succumb to the disease will not be embalmed, this will protect the morticians from getting infected with the virus. “Embalming is discouraged because this means when the body comes to the mortuary the mortician will start to manipulate it and in the process, there will be splashes that will potentially carry infection.”

    So far Kenya has confirmed 6 deaths from coronavirus.

  • Experts Urge Smokers and Tobacco Firms to Quit for COVID-19

    Experts Urge Smokers and Tobacco Firms to Quit for COVID-19

    (Reuters) – Health experts on Monday urged smokers to quit and cigarette companies to stop producing and selling tobacco products to help reduce the risks from COVID-19.

    “The best thing the tobacco industry can do to fight COVID-19 is to immediately stop producing, marketing and selling tobacco,” Gan Quan, a public health specialist and a director at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said in a statement.

    The group, which links international respiratory and lung specialists, officials and health agencies, said it is “deeply concerned” about COVID-19’s impact on the world’s 1.3 billion smokers, in particular those in poorer countries whose health systems are already overburdened.

    Smoking is known to weaken the immune system, making it less able to respond effectively to infections. Smokers may also already have lung disease or reduced lung capacity which would greatly increase the risk of serious illness.

    Quan said governments around the world had a “moral imperative” to advise smokers to stop. “This is the absolute best time to quit smoking,” Quan said.

    The Union’s statement cited emerging evidence from preliminary studies of COVID-19 patients in China and elsewhere that suggest smokers infected with the new coronavirus become more severely ill and suffer more serious complications such as breathing difficulties.

    It said a study of more than 1,000 COVID-19 patients published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February found that smokers – both past and present – fared poorly, with smokers comprising more than 25% of those that needed mechanical ventilation, admission to an intensive care unit, or who died.

    The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have also warned that smoking can expose people to serious complications from COVID-19.

  • African Elites Who Once Sought Treatment Aboard Are Stuck With The Rest

    African Elites Who Once Sought Treatment Aboard Are Stuck With The Rest

    (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic could narrow one gaping inequality in Africa, where some heads of state and other elite jet off to Europe or Asia for health care unavailable in their nations. As countries including their own impose dramatic travel restrictions, they might have to take their chances at home.

    For years, leaders from Benin to Zimbabwe have received medical care abroad while their own poorly funded health systems limp from crisis to crisis. Several presidents, including ones from Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia, have died overseas.

    The practice is so notorious that a South African health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, a few years ago scolded, “We are the only continent that has its leaders seeking medical services outside the continent, outside our territory. We must be ashamed.”

    Now a wave of global travel restrictions threatens to block that option for a cadre of aging African leaders. More than 30 of Africa’s 57 international airports have closed or severely limited flights, the U.S. State Department says. At times, flight trackers have shown the continent’s skies nearly empty.

    Perhaps “COVID-19 is an opportunity for our leaders to reexamine their priorities,” said Livingstone Sewanyana of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, which has long urged African countries to increase health care spending.

    But that plea has not led to action, even as the continent wrestles with major crises including deadly outbreaks of Ebola and the scourges of malaria and HIV.

    Spending on health care in Africa is roughly 5% of gross domestic product, about half the global average. That’s despite a pledge by African Union members in 2001 to spend much more. Money is sometimes diverted to security or simply pilfered, and shortages are common.

    Ethiopia had just three hospital beds per 10,000 people in 2015, according to World Health Organization data, compared to two dozen or more in the U.S. and Europe. Central African Republic has just three ventilators in the entire country. In Zimbabwe, doctors have reported doing bare-handed surgeries for lack of gloves.

    Health experts warn that many countries will be overwhelmed if the coronavirus spreads, and it is already uncomfortably close. Several ministers in Burkina Faso have been infected, as has a top aide to Nigeria’s president. An aide to Congo’s leader died.

    For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death.

    “If you test positive in a country, you should seek care in that country,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. John Nkengasong, told reporters Thursday. “It’s not a death sentence.”

    In Nigeria, some worried their president might be among the victims. Long skittish about President Muhammadu Buhari’s absences from public view, including weeks in London for treatment for unspecified health problems, they took to Twitter to ask why he hadn’t addressed the nation as virus cases rose.

    Buhari’s office dismissed speculation about his whereabouts as unfounded rumor. When he did emerge Sunday night, he announced that all private jet flights were suspended. The international airports were already closed.

    While the travel restrictions have grounded the merely wealthy, political analyst Alex Rusero said a determined African leader probably could still find a way to go abroad for care.

    “They are scared of death so much they will do everything within their disposal, even if it’s a private jet to a private hospital in a foreign land,” said Rusero, who is based in Zimbabwe, whose late President Robert Mugabe often sought treatment in Asia.

    Perhaps nowhere is the situation bleaker than in Zimbabwe, where the health system has collapsed. Even before the pandemic, patients’ families were often asked to provide essentials like gloves and clean water. Doctors last year reported using bread bags to collect patients’ urine.

    Zimbabwe’s vice president, Constantino Chiwenga, departed last month for unrelated medical treatment in China, as the outbreak eased in that country. Zimbabwe closed its borders days later after its first virus death.

    Chiwenga has since returned — to lead the country’s coronavirus task force.

    But some in a new generation of African leaders have been eager to show sensitivity to virus-prevention measures.

    The president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, initially defied his country’s restrictions on travel by government employees to visit neighboring Namibia for its leader’s inauguration. But he entered self-quarantine and now reminds others to stay home, calling it “literally a matter of life and death.”

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced he had tested negative, just ahead of a three-week lockdown in Africa’s most developed country. Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has as well.

    Other leaders, including Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, have tweeted images of themselves working via videoconference as countries encourage people to keep their distance.

    While African leaders are more tied to home than ever, their access to medical care is still far better than most of their citizens’.

    In Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, medical student Franck Bienvenu Zida was self-isolating and worried after having contact with someone who tested positive.

    The 26-year-old feared infecting people where he lives, but his efforts to get tested were going nowhere. In three days of calling an emergency number to request a test, he could not get through.

    Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.

  • Miguna Miguna Will Be Receiving Sh200,000 Monthly From The Government

    Miguna Miguna Will Be Receiving Sh200,000 Monthly From The Government

    Covid-19 continues to break economies, many are losing jobs and going hungry. Countries are going on lockdowns which directly translates to lose of income.

    One of the worries that has particularly clouded the African economies is the reality of a collapse of the economy should they adopt a total lockdown which has been tested and proven as the most effective way to flattening the curve of coronavirus.

    As of Friday, over one million people had been reported as infected with Covid19 and over 50,000 dead.

    Different countries are adopting economic stimulus measures to cushion their citizens. Canada is now offering a monthly stipend of $2,000 to all citizens affected by the pandemic. Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau announced.

    Miguna Miguna who was denied access to Kenya but retained his Canada citizenship, is likely to benefit from the government’s aid given that his work alongside many others has been affected by the coronavirus. Miguna has been a practicing lawyer in Canada specializing in immigration law.

  • Covid-19: The Last Flight From New York Was His Last, How Kenya Airways Exposed Their Staff And Passengers To Death

    Covid-19: The Last Flight From New York Was His Last, How Kenya Airways Exposed Their Staff And Passengers To Death

    It was in January, China the epicenter of the Covid19 virus had just given the alert, by then only about 132 people had been killed and merely over 6,000 infected by the virus globally, mostly in China.

    News of the spread sent countries into panic and issued warnings. UK was amongst the first counties to issue travel advisories. British Airways, country’s biggest airline was out on the alert and made drastic, unavoidable and sound decision. Halt flights to and from China’s mainland.

    “We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority,” the company said in an email. BA.comcurrently shows no direct flights to mainland China, although flights to Hong Kong are unaffected. The company said that flights would remain suspended until it received more information from British officials, there was no otherwise directive.

    The virus continued to spread out to the world, Russia, US and other countries locked our flights from China but it was too little too late. It had already dived in.

    While countries moved in Africa o close China out of the borders, Kenya remained adamant. Experts threw in their insights claiming the ties that Kenya shared with China wouldn’t make a total shutdown of Chinese flights.

    Kenya being entrance point for China to Africa, continued to let in many Chinese nationals many of whom were either expatriates or just fleeing from China because the heat of the virus was catching fire.

    As the number of people infected with the Wuhan coronavirus around the world continued to grow, airlines canceled or reduced their flights to China, where the virus was discovered.

    Their reasoning was a mix of reduced demand to visit the country and fear of the virus spreading, with numerous cities outside China reporting cases of the virus.

    European and US airlines — along with some Asian airlines — largely made up the list of those reducing service or outright canceling flights to mainland China until the virus could get under control.

    As airlines continues to register cases of passengers with coronavirus, in Kenya, the authorities slowly crawled out of the slumber and heightened screening. This was in late February and early March.

    Despite numerous alarms, there was no confirmed case of the virus in Kenya.

    Kenyan authorities reiterated that they were on top of everything and solidifying screening at the airport and borders. However, a sense of panic had gripped the building, fed largely by a perception that the government was slow in enacting measures to prevent the virus getting into the country as well as by a dearth of public information on what to expect once its presence had been confirmed.

    In line, the government established a National Emergency Response Committee to “prevent, respond to and contain this emerging global threat”.

    Much of the concern was centred on the continuation of flights arriving from China whose Hubei province is the epicenter of the outbreak. At the end of January, the national carrier, Kenya Airways, reluctantly suspended flights to and from Guangzhou, one of its most lucrative routes, following public pressure, including from unions.

    However, the government’s decision to allow a China Southern Airlines (CSA) plane carrying 239 passengers to land at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on February 26 caused uproar despite assurances that the passengers had been “screened on board, cleared and advised to self-quarantine for the next 14 days”.

    The plane carrying passengers from China arrived in the country on Wednesday, February 26

    – The Ministry of Health said passengers had been screened and cleared by health officials before entering the country

    – It, however, asked the 239 persons to self-quarantine for at least 14 days as a precautionary measure

    – According to the ministry, the Chinese Southern Airlines resumed operations in the country

    – The ministry by then had so far investigated 17 alerts of coronavirus and they all tested negative

    – The government stopped national carrier Kenya Airways from flying to China and it remained unclear why it allowed l flights from the East Asia country despite the coronavirus threat

    A Kenya Airways employee working at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), was suspended on allegations of filming and sharing a video of a China Southern Airlines plane landing in Nairobi.

    Mr Gire Ali who later filed a suit through lawyer Danstan Omari at the High Court in Milimani said in a report…“He has been receiving threats and has reported the matter at Kahawa Wendani Police Station. We will be moving to court to seek protection,” said lawyer Omari…

    While local dailies praised him for his heroic efforts that brought to focus and halt to Chinese flights, Mr. Gire earner himself misfortunes, including putting his job at stock over the whistle blowing filming. Kenya Airways, would later suspend him.

    In his suspension letter, Mr Ali was accused of being involved in the recording of the video. The letter, signed by Chief Human Resources Officer Everlyne Munyoki, stated that the recording was contrary to provision 16.2 of the company’s human resource policy manual…The landing of the plane led to an uproar by Kenyans and prompted at least three court petitions by the Law Society of Kenya, two doctors (Dr Joseph Mithika Mwenda and Dr Thiakanu Cyprian Mwirabua) and a lawyer (Kounah Ochieng). They all secured court orders suspending flights from China for 10 days because of the coronavirus concerns.

    Meanwhile, as Kenya was dealing with China and deep rooted relations, Kenya Airways was yet faced with another challenge. Italy and Denver, some of their most profitable roots had been hit with the coronavirus.

    Kenya Airways suspended flights to and from Rome and Geneva, the company had said adding to a long list of airlines worldwide that had grounded flights or modified their services in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

    The halt to flight services to Rome and Geneva came into effect.

    While Italy was recording highest coronavirus cases, US was silently getting into the map, however KQ wasn’t alarmed and continued with their normal flights. Kenya Airways had direct flights from Nairobi to New York. This would then end tragically.

    Demonstrating the incredible level of risk airline, Kenya Airways management put their employees in these days, the Kenya Airways pilot who flew the final flight from New York to Nairobi has now died of COVID-19. Captain Kimuyu Kabati passed away in Nairobi on April 1st due to exposure to the virus.

    And this calls for a revisit to the whole story.

    Captain Daudi Kimuyu Kibati, was taken ill on March 29, died on April 1, a week after performing his last international assignment.

    Captain Kibati was in charge of the last flight from New York to Nairobi which evacuated Kenyans stranded in the United States, before the government’s ban on international flights took effect.

    Before the government suspended all international flights on March 25, Kenya Airways offered a one way complimentary ticket to Kenyans stranded in New York City who wished to return home.

    New York City was being put on lockdown on March 23, the same day the last KQ flight was departing from the John F Kennedy Airport.

    By then, the death toll in New York had surpassed the 1,200 and more than 90,000 Covid-19 cases had been confirmed across the US.

    According to sources at Kenya Airways, Captain Kibati, who piloted the Dreamliner 787, was tasked with evacuating Kenyans from a city ravaged by the virus under very strict timelines.

    The flight had to leave New York City before the lockdown was announced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo began and it had to arrive in Nairobi before March 25.

    Upon touchdown at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on March 24, the 61-year-old pilot proceeded for self-quarantine, at the Ole Sereni Hotel, alongside his first officer.

    Passengers were supposed to be taken to government designated quarantine facilities at their cost. Some of the flight cabin crew were booked at the Four Points Hotel within JKIA.

    Captain Kibati, a retired Major of the Kenya Air Force put his life on the line to rescue his countrymen trapped abroad.

    The previous week, the pilot who was born in Maliku area of Kitui County had flown another flight from Nairobi to Rome, and back to Nairobi, before being dispatched to New York.

    Italy has recorded the highest coronavirus cases in Europe, with the World Health Organisation reporting 13, 157 deaths and 110,574 confirmed Covid-19 cases, as of on Friday.

    The pilot tested negative upon arrival in Nairobi and two more times but stayed isolated from his family and friends until March 29 when he developed sore throat and fever.

    According to his brother Arnold Kibati, he was taken to Nairobi Hospital where he was immediately admitted after testing positive for the virus.

    “He tested positive for coronavirus on the eighth day after undergoing rigorous medical screening in all the cities he flew to, and three more tests in Nairobi which were negative,” Mr Arnold told Nation on Friday.

    He said the captain stayed in hospital for two days before succumbing on Wednesday.

    A statement released by Evelyne Munyoki, the Chief Human Resources Officer, Kenya Airways said: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Management and Staff of Kenya Airways, we join the family of the late Captain Kibati in mourning their beloved one and pray that the Almighty God will strengthen them during this time of sorrow.”

    The Nation established that the First Officer of the KQ flight from New York City to Nairobi and part of the crew who were all under quarantine, also tested positive to the virus and are undergoing treatment.

    With the pilot dead and a stream of crew quarantined a can of worms has been opened. As KQ continued with these flights to Covid19 hotspots, did they quarantine their staff? Captain Kibati himself moved from Italy to New York, world’s leading hotspots.

    What safety measures did the airline take for their staff? We’re passengers also exposed to the virus given that now we have confirmed case of a coronavirus with the airline? How many other KQ staff are in quarantine? Did the KQ management put into consideration the safety of their staff if not the passengers to continue flights to the coronavirus worst hit countries? How many KQ staff are in quarantine?

    And lastly, will the Kenya Airways management be put into task for ignoring the alarms for profits which they don’t make anyway to put many lives in the danger of contracting coronavirus with their continuity of flights to hotspots?

    Additional report by Daily Nation.

  • Covid-19: US Sets Global Record With Over 1,400 Deaths In 24 Hours

    Covid-19: US Sets Global Record With Over 1,400 Deaths In 24 Hours

    A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed at least 7,152 people in the United States.

    With more than 277,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19, the U.S. has by far the highest national tally in the world, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

    More than 1.09 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease. The actual number is believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.

    With little sign of the curve flattening, the US has confirmed over 1,400 Covid-19 deaths in a single day, as well as more than 30,000 new cases, as New York City sounds alarms that its hospitals will soon run out of ventilators.

    With the peak of Covid-19 infections still ahead and medical supplies still scarce, hospitals and physicians are gearing up for a nearly impossible challenge: deciding who gets a life-saving ventilator and who doesn’t.

    “Physicians who work in parts of the world that don’t have adequate resources have had to make decisions like this maybe even on a routine basis, but physicians in the United States have never faced anything like this before,” said Dr. Robert Truog, director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School. “It is going to be extremely difficult.”

    If the current rate of hospitalization and intubation continues in New York, “we have about six days” left of ventilators in the stockpile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during Thursday’s coronavirus briefing.

    On Friday, New York state reached a miserable milestone.

    Over the course of nearly five weeks, the coronavirus has killed more New Yorkers than the terrorists who flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. And the death toll is only expected to grow — by leaps and bounds.

    The terrorists killed about 2,700 people in New York state. The coronavirus has so far killed 2,935 state residents — moms, dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters, a grim toll that’s straining the state’s morgues and funeral homes.

    The symbolism of this landmark moment and its potential implications for New York are not lost on those who live here, in the American epicenter of the disease.

  • Americans Urged To Wear Face-masks When Going Outside Fearing Covid-19 Maybe Spreading By Normal Breathing

    Americans Urged To Wear Face-masks When Going Outside Fearing Covid-19 Maybe Spreading By Normal Breathing

    (AFP) – The United States on Friday advised all Americans to wear masks in public to protect against the new coronavirus, fearing the illness that has infected more than one million people worldwide may be spreading by normal breathing.

    The recommendation came as the US set a new record for the number of COVID-19 deaths in one day with 1,480 dead, the most of any country since the pandemic began. That topped the record set by the US the previous day with 1,169 deaths.

    President Donald Trump said the government recommendation for all 330 million Americans to wear non-medical masks in places such as grocery stores would last “for a period of time.”

    “It’s going to be really a voluntary thing,” Trump told reporters. “You don’t have to do it and I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it and that’s okay.”

    US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said the decision came because many people with the virus were showing no symptoms, but warned it was still vital to practice “social distancing” by maintaining space between people.

    The announcement came after Anthony Fauci, who is leading the government’s scientific response, backed recent scholarship that found SARS-CoV-2 can be suspended in the ultrafine mist formed when people exhale.

    Research indicates “the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as opposed to coughing and sneezing,” Fauci said on Fox News.

    The National Academy of Sciences sent a letter to the White House on April 1 summarizing recent research on the subject, saying it’s not yet conclusive but “the results … are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing.”

    Since the virus was first identified in China in late December last year, health experts have said it is primarily spread through coughing and sneezing.

    The US recommendation will likely worsen an already severe shortage of masks in the United States and Europe, which both rely heavily on imports from China.

    Trump urged Americans to “just make something” or use scarves, saving clinical masks for health professionals and patients.

    – Rising tolls but hope in Europe –

    More than 57,000 people have died from COVID-19 since it was first detected late last year.

    Worse may be coming as a quarter of global infections are in the United States, where Trump has warned of a “very, very painful” first two weeks of April.

    Europe reached the dark milestone of 40,000 dead, with Spain on Friday reporting more than 900 deaths in the past 24 hours.

    Spaniard Javier Lara survived after being put on oxygen in an overcrowded intensive care unit — a shock to a 29-year-old who was athletic and doesn’t smoke.

    “I was panicking that my daughter would get infected,” he said, describing facing death with an eight-week-old as the “worst moment” in his life.

    But there were also signs the peak may be passing in Europe.

    Hardest-hit Italy recorded 766 new deaths but its infections rose by just four percent, the lowest yet, according to the civil protection service.

    “It’s true that the latest figures, as high as they are, give us a little bit of hope,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

    “But it is definitely much too early to see a clear trend in that, and it is certainly too early to think in any way about relaxing the strict rules we have given ourselves,” she added.

    – ‘Worst yet to come’ –

    Prosperous countries have borne the brunt of the disease, but there are fears of an explosion among the world’s most vulnerable living in conflict zones or refugee camps.

    “The worst is yet to come,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, referring to countries such as Syria, Libya and Yemen. “The COVID-19 storm is now coming to all these theaters of conflict.”

    The world economy has been pummelled by the virus and associated lockdowns, with the US economy shedding 701,000 jobs in March — its worst showing since March 2009 in the wake of the subprime banking crisis. Even more dire figures are expected for April.

    Financial ratings agency Fitch predicted the US and eurozone economies would shrink this quarter by up to 30 percent and the Asian Development Bank warned the global economy could take a $4.1 trillion hit — equivalent to five percent of worldwide output.

    Latin America is heading into a “deep recession” with an expected drop of 1.8 to 4.0 percent in GDP, according to the UN economic commission for the region.

    – New measures taken –

    In signs that the world wants to avoid a repeat of the crisis, the African country of Gabon said it was banning the sale and consumption of bats and pangolins, the critically endangered, scaly mammals.

    The novel coronavirus is believed to have come from bats, but researchers think it might have spread to humans via another mammal such as pangolins through an unsanitary meat market in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in China.

    The virus has chiefly killed the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions, but recent deaths among teenagers and babies have highlighted the dangers for people of all ages.

    In Spain, 34-year-old Vanesa Muro gave birth with COVID-19 and has been warned not to touch her newborn without wearing gloves and masks.

    “It’s hard,” she told AFP. “He grabs your finger, the poor little thing, and holds onto the plastic, not on to you.”

  • Surveillance: Google To Allow Governments Access Users Data To Tackle Coronavirus

    Surveillance: Google To Allow Governments Access Users Data To Tackle Coronavirus

    Google will publish location data from its users around the world from Friday to allow governments to gauge the effectiveness of social distancing measures put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the tech giant said.

    The reports on users’ movements in 131 countries will be made available on a special website and will “chart movement trends over time by geography,” according to a post on one of the company’s blogs.

    Trends will be display “a percentage point increase or decrease in visits” to locations like parks, shops, homes and places of work, not “the absolute number of visits,” said the post, signed by Jen Fitzpatrick, who leads Google Maps, and the company’s chief health officer Karen DeSalvo.

    “We hope these reports will help support decisions about how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic,” they said.

    “This information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings.”

    Like the detection of traffic jams or the measurement of traffic on Google Maps, the new reports will use “aggregated, anonymised” data from users who have activated their location history.

    No “personally identifiable information,” such as a person’s location, contacts or movements, will be made available, the post said.

    The reports will also employ a statistical technique that adds “artificial noise” to raw data, making it harder for users to be identified.

    From China to Singapore to Israel, governments have ordered electronic monitoring of their citizens’ movements in an effort to limit the spread of the virus, which has infected more than a million people and killed over 50,000 worldwide.

    In Europe and the United States, technology firms have begun sharing “anonymised” smartphone data to better track the outbreak.

    Even privacy-loving Germany is considering using a smartphone app to help manage the spread of the disease.

    But activists say authoritarian regimes are using the coronavirus as a pretext to suppress independent speech and increase surveillance.

    And in liberal democracies, others fear widespread data harvesting and intrusion could bring lasting harm to privacy and digital rights.

  • Why Rev Njoya Is Advising Uhuru, Raila And Ruto To Sleep In Different Rooms With Their Wives

    Why Rev Njoya Is Advising Uhuru, Raila And Ruto To Sleep In Different Rooms With Their Wives

    Kenyan coronavirus cases have soared to 110 as of the Thursday’s update with 3 deaths. Worldwide, the virus has now crossed the1 million mark with over 50,000 people dead going to show how ravaging it has become.

    Kenyan authorities are exploiting safety measures including a curfew that’s currently being implemented. While the government has been mulling a total lockdown of the country, economists have warned that this would cause a collapse of the economy.

    Health measures as social distancing is being encouraged to minimize infections. It has abreast been confirmed that the community transmissions is already in motion.

    Government has been urging the citizens to stay at home.

    Virus has been infecting many including world leaders like the UK PM Boris who has since recovered from the virus.

    Locally, leaders haven’t been slated either with Kilifi DG being the publicly put individual to have tested positive, even though he has now recovered and tested negative, his reckless actions has left many people including fellow leaders exposed to the virus.

    Rabai MP who had come into contact with him  also tested positive,brothers including the governor Kingi that cane into contact with the DG have had to quarantine. There’s also unconfirmed stories of several leaders who’ve been treated for the virus at the designated government facilities.

    Given that no one is invincible, Rev Timothy Njoya is having some wisdom to Kenyan top leaders on what they need to do to stay safe from the virus.

    “SELF-QUALATINE: MY SUGGESTION is that President UHURU should now become
    house-husband,do away with servants and serve himself. RUTO&RAILA should do similar exercise. If possible,until the end of Corona pandemic they and their wives should sleep in different bedrooms: This I pray!” He writes.

    The president has not been seen mingling with the public much save for his press addresses that he only appears himself and from the statehouse. He’s not been seen with the DP either as it used in previous disasters addresses.

    DP Ruto was last seen in public at a church function in 13th March, the very day first case of Covid19 was made, ever since, he has withdrawn himself completely from the public.

    Raila too has minimized his public appearances, the last we heard of him was when he denied having had contacts with the DG who had tested positive. He also made a video from his Karen home urging Kenyans to take precautions against the virus.

  • KEMRI To Perform 12,000 Covid-19 Tests In A Day

    KEMRI To Perform 12,000 Covid-19 Tests In A Day

    The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) has revealed plans to undertake over 12,000 tests for the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Responding to a concerned Kenyans who had raised issue with the earlier announced 300 tests per day, KEMRI said they were in the middle of testing for SARS-COV-2 using manual assays.

    “It was mentioned that the current country diagnostic capacity is 300 samples per day. Is this for all the centres you had mentioned that can conduct tests or the National Influenza Centre only?” One Ondari Mogeni had posed.

    To which KEMRI responded “Currently, KEMRI is testing for SARS-COV-2 using manual assays, which were put together at very short notice. Very shortly, high throughput assays will come into use, with a capacity of thousands of tests These assays can provide at least 12000 test results a day.”

    Kenya recently received 25,000 test kits from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, which Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced would ease the testing of patients as the country can currently only test slightly over 300 people per day.

    Kenya has so far recorded 110 positive coronavirus patients and 3 deaths. The pandemic has caused close 50,000 deaths and over 1 million infections all over the world.
  • Covid-19: Video Chat App Zoom Now Has 200M Daily Users As World Shifts To Working From Home

    Covid-19: Video Chat App Zoom Now Has 200M Daily Users As World Shifts To Working From Home

    The number of people using Video-conferencing app Zoom has ballooned as the coronavirus pandemic has prompted lockdowns across the globe.

    At the end of December last year, the maximum number of daily meetings conducted on Zoom was approximately 10 million, according to the company. In March this year, they recorded more than 200 million daily users.

    Zoom is now ranked as the number two app in the UK and number one in the US, after its surge in popularity.

    The huge increase can be put down to coronavirus prevention measures as governments around the world ordered people to practice social distancing to combat the spread of coronavirus, leading to a huge increase in the number of people working, studying, and socialising from home.

    However, Zoom has come under fire as its ability to cope with the huge increase in user numbers while also ensuring platform safety, privacy, and security has been questioned.

    Zoom has been hit by security issues in the past, including a vulnerability which allowed a cyber-attacker to remove attendees from meetings, spoof messages from users, and hijack shared screens. Another problem forced Mac users into calls without their knowledge.

    Zoom is now ranked as the number two app in the UK and number one in the US, after its surge in popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic. (PA)
    Zoom is now ranked as the number two app in the UK and number one in the US, after its surge in popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic. (PA)

    Recent security concerns include reports of strangers gaining access to meetings and displaying explicit material if proper security measures are not taken, such as locking a meeting once all expected attendees have joined, in a process which has become known as “Zoombombing.”

    In a statement on their website, Zoom founder and CEO Eric S Yuan acknowledged that the surge in users was “presenting us with challenges we did not anticipate when the platform was conceived”.

    “We appreciate the scrutiny and questions we have been getting ⁠— about how the service works, about our infrastructure and capacity, and about our privacy and security policies. These are the questions that will make Zoom better, both as a company and for all its users,” he said.

    Zoom has taken several steps to ensure security and transparency on the platform, according to the company.

    These include clarifying the protective features that can help prevent “Zoombombing”, such as waiting rooms, passwords, muting controls, and limiting screen sharing, updating their privacy policy, setting up guidelines for education users, and releasing fixes for several issues that had been previously found.

    The company said over the next 90 days they plan to focus on creating the resources needed to better identify, address, and fix issues proactively by shifting all engineering resources to prioritise trust, safety, and privacy issues rather than working on new features, preparing a transparency report, and enhancing programmes to identify bugs in the app.

  • Kenya’s Economy Estimated To Lose Sh1Trillion Due To Coronavirus

    Kenya’s Economy Estimated To Lose Sh1Trillion Due To Coronavirus

    The dwindling Kenyan economy is now estimated to make a Sh1 trillion ($10 billion) loss due to the viral COVID-19 disease a new report by management consultants McKinsey & Company will show.

    The countries GDP is expected to take a dip due to the lack of revenue from tourism and exports like flowers.which will, in turn, disrupt the supply chain for key inputs in machinery and chemicals. “The biggest impacts in terms of loss to GDP are reductions in household and business spending (50pc), disruption to supply chain for key inputs in machinery and chemicals (30 pc) and tourism (about 20pc),” says the report.

    The last time this happened was during the Late 2nd President Moi’s tenure where the Goldenberg scam led to the loss of at least Sh105 billion ($1 billion).

    The new report says that economic growth will slump to 1.9pc from the current 5.2pc. The Central Bank of Kenya last month said it was expectingthe economic growth in the country to be 3.4pc a drop from an initial estimate of 6.2pc.

    Kenya has so far recorded 110 positive coronavirus patients and 3 deaths and is now beginning to feel the financial strain caused by the pandemic that has caused close 50,000 deaths and over 1 million infections all over the world.

  • State To Monitor Social Media Users

    State To Monitor Social Media Users

    Bloggers and users in the social media have been warned to forthwith desist from making a mockery of the efforts the government was making to mitigate the rate of coronavirus infections.

    Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Health, Mutahi Kagwe riled at those propagating falsehood saying their wayward communication were counterproductive to efforts to save lives against the highly contagious pandemic.
    He decried that a section of Kenyans had deliberately trivialized governments efforts in the fight against the viral disease to gain undue point in social circles instead of re-energizing efforts to raise levels alertness..

    Yesterday the government informed Kenyans that two young people who were case number 1 and 2 of the confirmed coronavirus cases had recovered from the deadly disease.

    The two, Brenda Cherotich and Brian Orinda had also appeared publicly during a live video conference with President Uhuru Kenyatta after they had been cleared to rejoin their families after turning negative to the COVID 19 virus.

    “It is shocking that some have decided to make fun and brand our efforts a PR exercise! Really? Why would the Government, collaborating with International Organizations play games with a disease that has caused so much global destruction on the lives of people?”, the CS said

    Its unpalatable and retrogressive for anybody to trivialize the lives of Kenyans even one, Kagwe said and appealed to the media not to slight the matter and at the same time called upon enforcement agencies to arrest social media abusers. It is wrong and it should not happen”.

    “As a government we are continuously improving our level of response to mitigate our rate of infections and I am deeply saddened that a section of Kenyans have taken to the social media to make a mockery of our efforts”, he said

    He spoke of changing behaviour and attitude if the country has to cut the transmission of the virus. “Had we not placed the people who came into the country into mandatory quarantine, the story would be different now!”, he said and also calling on them to practice social distancing even where they are quarantined.

    CS Kagwe thanked those County Governments that have scaled up precautionary measures through random screening at their borders urging all the counties to heighten their level of preparedness.

    “ we are still urging all to take extreme precautionary measures wherever you are, by observing the highest standard of hygiene, social distancing, as well as any other measures the Government has announced to you”, he said

    Beginning today, the CS further said that Port Health Teams have embarked on disinfecting the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for the next one week and that the exercise will be extended to all other airports.

    The Government starting last Sunday embarked on mass testing exercise for the 2,050 people that were placed under mandatory quarantine in various hotels and designated Government Facilities.

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the current global reality is that close to one million people have so far been infected, and 47,000 have lost their lives. As we speak, Italy has recorded 110,574 cases, with 13,155 deaths, and 16,847 recoveries. Spain has recorded 104,118 cases with 9,387 deaths, and 22,647 recoveries.

  • Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Has Now Hit 1 Million Mark Worldwide

    Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Has Now Hit 1 Million Mark Worldwide

    By AFP

    The number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the globe reached one million on Thursday, according to tracking by Johns Hopkins University.

    There have been more than 50,000 reported deaths from the virus so far, including thousands in the United States, China, Iran and large numbers in such European countries as Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Roughly half of the world’s population has been in some kind of lockdown or settle-in-place order to limit movement and the spread of the pandemic, including all of India’s 1.3 billion people.

    The virus causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, which is characterized by fever, coughing and breathing difficulty and can progress to pneumonia. It is particularly deadly to those with certain underlying health conditions. While the mortality rate of the virus is relatively low compared to some other emergent infectious diseases such as SARS or Ebola, it spreads much more readily.  Treatment of the worst symptoms can require weeks on a ventilator, straining the resources of hospitals where localized outbreaks occur.

    At the end of December, authorities in Wuhan, China confirmed that they had been treating dozens of cases of a new virus. The Chinese government reported the first death caused by the virus on January 11 and by January 20 a number of countries — United States, Japan, South Korea and Thailand — have their first confirmed cases per a World Health Organization situation report.

    On January 23, the city of Wuhan, with a population of 11 million, was cordoned off from the rest of the country by Chinese officials who canceled outbound flights and trains. But a little over a week later on February 2 the first death outside of China occurred, a 44-year-old man in the Philippines. On February 7, Wen liang, a Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm early on — and was targeted by the police died of the virus.

    On February 11 the disease got its official name from WHO: Covid-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019.

    Nurses in protective gear walk down the hall at a hospital in Cremona, Italy. (Photo by Marco Mantovani/Getty Images)
    Nurses in protective gear walk down the hall at a hospital in Cremona, Italy. (Photo by Marco Mantovani/Getty Images)

    Three days later, the first reported death from the virus occurred in Europe, when an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died in Paris. On the same day, a case was confirmed in Egypt, the first in Africa.

    On Feb. 19, Iran announced two cases in the country, then hours later relayed that both patients had died. The virus hit the Middle Eastern country particularly hard, and by early March they were temporarily releasing thousands of prisoners and at least 24 members of their parliament had tested positive for the virus.

    Late February is also when Italy began to lock down certain regions after facing a surge in cases. Among the areas affected was Milan, whose annual Fashion Week festivities coincided with the country’s first reported death from the virus on Feb. 22. An Italian contractor traveling from Milan to Lagos, Nigeria later became the first confirmed case in Africa’s most populous country.

    On Feb. 26, the first case was confirmed in Latin America 61-year-old man tested positive in Brazil. The next day the first coronavirus-related death was recorded in the U.S. when a patient near Seattle succumbed to the disease. On March 11, the WHO officially declared the virus a pandemic and two days later President Trump declared a national emergency in the U.S.

    Over 171 countries currently have had at least one confirmed case.

  • Covid-19: LSK Fires A Warning To Health CS Kagwe For Threatening Questioning Social Media Users With Arrests

    Covid-19: LSK Fires A Warning To Health CS Kagwe For Threatening Questioning Social Media Users With Arrests

    Health CS Mutahi Kagwe who since his appointment has been a darling to many given his presumed effectiveness in the office, could be bidding his good days bye.

    The social media streets has been awash with praises of the CS but that didn’t last long before the same people turned against him but that could be his own making as well.

    On Wednesday, the government announced the recovery of two Covid19 patients; Brenda and Brian. They were both publicly displayed in a teleconference with the head of state, Uhuru Kenyatta.

    Brenda continued with appearances on media stations as a survivor. While her story was meant to give people hope and fight stigmatization that has always come with the virus, things took a different route when people started poking holes in her story.

    The more questions people raised with the common one being that she claimed to have been on quarantine for 23days when the government announced she had been in the country since 5th and confirmed in 13th which to the media users, dates weren’t corroborating.

    Many users alleged that she was doing PR for the government with the many questions they raised over the inconsistencies in her story. This didn’t go well with the CS who cane out fuming at the inquisitive social media users.

    When announcing 29 more confirmed cases in Kenya that now comes to 110 in total, the CS didn’t hold back his fire.

    “The situation in our country is not getting better, it is worsening and as a government, we are working hard and I am sad that Kenyans are trivializing our efforts to fight this pandemic,” the Health CS said referring to the social media trolling of the two first cured patients in Kenya.

    “Why would we make PR with the lives of the two cured Kenyans, I appeal to the media not to spite these efforts and call upon the law enforcers to arrest these social media users,” the Health CS posed.

    In the same breath, many Kenyans have taken to the same platform to call out the CS accusing him of developing dictatorial tendencies by calling for an arrest of those questioning the government.

    “THREATS against Social Media users, are UNNECESSARY. Doubt, criticism & praise, will not be stopped by DCI. Instead of DCI being used to arrest ONLINE users, they should be helping to trace contacts via Phone Triangulation, the same tech used to arrest bloggers.” Tweeted Dennis Itumbi, former statehouse operative.

    Activist Bonface Mwangi also jumped into the conversation, “CS Kagwe has picked a battle with social media users that he is guaranteed to lose. President Uhuru Kenyatta tried and lost. Let’s remind him Uhuru deleted his social media accounts because of Kenyans on social media. Uhuru couldn’t stand the truth and he reverted to smoke signals.”

    “Health CS Mutahi Kagwe will lose the little credibility and support he had faster than Rashid Echesa lost his position. You can’t earn respect and trust through arrests and intimidations. How many will you intimidate? Stop the foolish incompetence. Yaani we have real idiots.” Tweeted Robert Alai, Kenyan blogger.

    Cyprian Nyakundi, who was recently charged for alleged fake news following a post he made about KRA boss not self quarantining after a trip from abroad, also had a thing to say, “CS Kagwe’s Job needs a lot of public trust and by asking DCI to arrest social media users for doubting something will make him lose the little trust he had started earning. Let the socials have their doubts, and he clarifies serious doubts. Muzzling their voices is EVIL!”

    While Kagwe picked a new pack of battles to fight with the whole social media that forced president Uhuru to delete his Twitter, he might have knocked on unintended door.

    Nelson Havi, the Kenya’s Law Society Chairman has taken up the fight for the social media users threatened with arrests and he promises the CS a fierce war. “Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, no one trusts government. Not even President Ronald Reagan. Do not therefore, suppress critical thinking and speech when the people of Kenya want substantiation on any issue Covid-19. This is a battle you will lose with shame. Abandon it in good time.” Havi tweeted.

    Its not known if the DCI is already pursuing any specific case as thousands of Kenyans contributed to the issue of Brenda online. What remains in many people’s minds is that questioning the authority is a crime as the CS makes it look like? Wouldn’t it have been prudent for the CS to lay out facts to demystify any lies told and move on as the coronavirus numbers continue to surge. Could it be fair to say the CS is engaging in unnecessary and avoidable dramas? One war at a time bwana CS.

  • Covid-19: Businessman Suleiman Shahbal Rewards Policewoman Amina With Sh50,000 For Service To Humanity

    Covid-19: Businessman Suleiman Shahbal Rewards Policewoman Amina With Sh50,000 For Service To Humanity

    As the government moved in to enforce the curfew, assault cases were reported across the country with many calling out the police brutality. The law society of Kenya has even moved to court to challenge the curfew terming it unconstitutional.

    Under a week that the curfew has been in place, four people including a 13-year old boy have been killed. The public and organizations have raised concerns over the terror reigned on the public by the police. President Uhuru is on record apologizing to the public over the police’s conduct promising to change the operations mode.

    While other officers continued to brutalize the public and giving the police force a bad name, elsewhere, there have been good gestures from some disciplined officers.

    Amina Ramadhan a policewoman based in Embakassi Police station is such one cop who has cut above the bar. While her colleagues engaged in unnecessary assaults, Amina on the other hand was giving a helping hand to those who by unavoidable circumstances were caught up in the curfew.

    The photo of her helping another lady with a baby into safety during the curfew warned many hearts and gained her an instant fame, from social media to mainstream, she was awash with praises.

    Amongst those whom were touched by her kind gesture is businessman Shahbal who promised to reward her with Sh50,000 as a show of appreciation to her service to the humanity.

    Shabhal with Amina at the Embakassi police station where he had gone to present her the reward.

    “As promised, I went to Embakasi police station to honor my commitment to Officer Amina. I also met her commanding officers who are very proud of her performance. We had a long discussion with OCPD and various other officers on the challenges that they police.” He said.

    “Unfortunately, the work in the image of the police is often spoiled by officers who use excessive force which we all condemn. But at the same time we should recognize and appreciate when they do a good work.” He added.