With rising cases of Covid-19 in Kenya, the Ministry of Health has re-introduced the mandatory wearing of face masks in all indoor functions as a containment measure to curb the spread of the disease.

The call comes barely two weeks after the government urged citizens to wear face masks in public places and get vaccinated following the sharp rise in Covid-19 cases.

“We are urging Kenyans to have their masks on. We are worried that the Covid-19 numbers are going up,” Mr Francis Kuria, the Director of Public Health at the Health Ministry said.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe stated that everyone will be required to wear face masks in confined places such as Public Service Vehicles (PSV), air-craft, offices,  malls, supermarkets, and places of worship.

“All person indoor meetings continue at full capacity of the venue but provided that people take measures to be fully vaccinated in order to do so. We are not restricting in-person worship. We also require worshipers to wear their face masks while inside the places of worship," CS Kagwe stated.

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The requirement, however, will not apply when one is spending time in open public spaces such as when walking or jogging.

At the same time, the CS called on Kenyans who have not received the COVID-19 jab to do so, adding that all unvaccinated travelers arriving at any port of entry into Kenya will be required to be in possession of a negative PCR test result conducted not more than 72 hours before departure.

Africa CDC earlier stated that Kenya is currently experiencing a sixth wave of Covid-19 infections after the number of positive cases in the country increased on average by 92 percent in the past month, compared with the previous four weeks.

In its June 19 update, Kenya reported 246 new Covid-19 cases from a sample size of 2,484 tests, pushing the daily positivity rate to 9.9 percent.

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