NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 21- Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned that bars found operating during the COVID-19 restriction period will lose their licenses.
Kagwe said the order to have bars closed is still in force, and anyone found operating illegally will face the law.
“Bars have not been opened, let us protect ourselves even more since the rate of infections is going higher,” the CS asserted.
He has asked law enforcement agencies to continue enforcing the measures, to curb the spread of the disease that has affected 40 counties and claimed 123 people.
In Nairobi and other urban centres, several bars have been operating in broad daylight, raising concerns on enforcement laxity.
They include bars in Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Buru Buru, Kahawa West, Embakasi among others.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, bars and restaurants were ordered closed until last month when restaurants were allowed to operate under strict public health protocols which include social distancing.
On Sunday, Kenya recorded 260 new COVID-19 cases, the largest number of infections on a single day.
This pushed the number of infections in the country to 4,738 since March when the first case was confirmed in the country.
“The more we test, the more cases we get,” said Mutahi Kagwe, Health Cabinet Secretary, “we had 260 positive cases confirmed in the past 24 hours.”
He said the new cases were confirmed from 3, 651 samples tested since Saturday.
The new infections include a 90-year-old and a 7-month infant.
“By now, it is evident, like any other disease, the coronavirus will be with us for a long time and it will in all probabilities eventually stretch our medical system just as it has globally, even in the wealthiest of nations,” he said.
Out of the 260 new cases recorded Sunday, Kagwe said 6 are foreigners while the rest are Kenyans.
21 COVID-19 patients were on Sunday discharged from various health facilities, raising the number of recoveries so far to 1,607.
Kagwe said the government has embarked on discharging asymptomatic patients from hospital for home-based care. So far, 600 have been discharged.
By June 21, 123 people had succumbed from the virus in the country.
