NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 18 – Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned bar owners found violating COVID-19 regulations that their licenses will be revoked and their places closed indefinitely.
While stressing that bars and places of entertainment in the country are still closed, Kagwe regretted that some individuals had resorted to open in the disguise of operating restaurants.
“Bars are not opened. We have seen some people now pretending that theirs are restaurants while they are not. Those are the kind of activities that make us take stringent measures to close those bars. We shall close them indefinitely,” Kagwe said.
The CS maintained that personal responsibility is key in defeating the virus that hit a record high today after 688 people tested positive for the virus.
“Why take a risk to kill people during this pandemic and in the process get closed down? It is just plain foolish. We hope people are going to refuse going to those bars, because after all it is a personal choice to go to those drinking dens,” he said.
He spoke when he unveiled a new slogan ‘Save Me I Save You’ in the war against COVID-19.
The CS said the new slogan is aimed at making each person wary of the person next to them. “We must protect each other.”
“When I protect you, you protect me,” Kagwe said Saturday, during a briefing on COVID-19 from Embu County.
“When the person next to you is keeping distance, he or she is protecting you, you are also protecting that person by keeping the same distance,” he said and warned that COVID-19 cases are spreading fast at the community level.
Kenya has so far recorded 12,750 infections, including 225 fatalities after 3 more patients succumbed to the disease.
