Kenya donates Sh200m to combat Covid-19 in the continent
Kenya has donated Sh200 million ($2 million) to the African Union (AU) coronavirus disease response fund, Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Ababu Namwamba has said.
Namwamba also said that a further Sh100 million pledge has been made towards supporting Africa Centre for Disease Control.
He said the financial support is pursuant to a pledge by President Uhuru Kenyatta to combat coronavirus in the continent.
“We are not just receiving support to fight coronavirus, we are also contributing towards this course.
We are helping each other in real spirit of continental and global solidarity,” said Namwamba yesterday, during the daily update on the status of coronavirus.
He added: “I applaud efforts of African leaders and AU under the leadership of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa for demonstrating leadership and committing domestic resources to combat the pandemic,” Namwamba added.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, Namwamba said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been actively engaged in mobilising medical supplies and other resources from development partners valued at over Sh1 billion.
Another 104 new cases from a sample of 2,285 were reported in the last 24 hours, with fatalities now surpassing the 600 mark.
Health CAS Rashid Aman said that eight more people died, raising the death toll to 607.
Some 74 more people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, raising the number of recoveries to 21,557.
The cumulative infection in the country now stands at 35,460 after testing 481,982 samples.
Nairobi had the highest number of cases at 18 followed by Mombasa with 16, Kisumu had 13 while Embu and Laikipia had 11 cases each.
Despite the progress in fighting coronavirus, Aman regretted that the ministry’s surveillance teams have noted major flouting of containment measures that could jeopardise gains made so far.
He said people have disregarded mandatory directive to wear masks while in public places in many parts of the country.
Similarly, he decried laxity in public transport sector saying there is continued overloading of some matatus both in urban and rural areas, with total disregard to physical distancing directives.
