NAIROBI, Kenya, May 9 – The government Saturday prohibited hawking in Nairobi’s Eastleigh and Old Town in Mombasa as part of new measures to complement COVID-19 containment efforts in the areas which have been identified as hotspots having reported an unassailable lead in reported coronavirus cases.
While issuing the directive, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said all gatherings have also been banned in the two areas with markets, malls and eateries expected to remain closed during the containment period.
“In order to accelerate the flattening of our curve, we are today introducing additional measures to contain the spread of the virus in Eastleigh and Old Town where we had imposed restricted movement in and out of,” he said during the daily briefing on COVID-19.
Aman also warned against restaurants flouting reopening guidelines issued by the health ministry saying they risk having their licences revoked.
He expressed concern over the tendency by business to operate in disregard of social distancing guidelines noting that some malls and supermarkets in Nairobi were fully packed, a situation he said could impede the war against the pandemic.
“We have observed, in most urban centers, that life has come back to almost normal. It does worry us that we are thinking that we are in a state of normalcy, we’re not,” Aman stated.
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