•He said there is no estate that hasn't been affected by Covid-19.
Image: DOUGLAS OKIDDY
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has said Kenya does not need to be put on lockdown.
He said other countries which are not on lockdown have been able to manage the disease and continue with activity.
Kagwe said many Kenyans, especially from low-income households, would negatively be impacted by a lockdown.
He also wondered why Kenyans are asking for a lockdown when some are unable to obey a curfew.
“It is amazing how people are calling for a lock down when they are unable to follow a curfew. Many of us seem not to understand a lock down. It is not just a name or a word and as a matter of fact it does not contemplate that people are safe,” he said.
Kagwe urged Kenyans to take social distancing seriously.
"Your neighbour could very well be positive... and when we start mass tests, we could get more," he said.
He said there is no estate that hasn't been affected by Covid-19.
All contacts of patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 will be put on mandatory quarantine.
Kagwe said they will be picked up and taken to quarantine centres.
He urged those picked to cooperate.
There are seven new cases of Covid-19.
They were all from Nairobi, pushing the numbers in the county to 28.
There are four Kenyans, two Congolese and one Chinese.
There were 81 samples analysed.
The total positive cases are now 38. However, one patient died on Thursday.
Four of the new cases had a history of travel. One travelled to Mombasa.
Two came from contacts.
The first and third patients have tested negative.
A repeat test is scheduled in the next 48 hours.
During the Friday briefing, the CS said Nairobi is leading in the number of Covid-19 cases.
The other counties are Kilifi (6), Mombasa (2), Kwale (1) and Kajiado (1).
Several medical staff at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi have been quarantined because they interacted with the 66-year-old man with Covid-19 who died.
The Star learnt the patient initially did not disclose to medics that he had travelled outside Kenya.
He presented himself to the hospital with mild fever and was prescribed medication to take at home.
"We do confirm that a number of our healthcare workers were exposed to a Covid-19 case by virtue of non-disclosure by the patient on their travel history," Dr Majid Twahir, an associate dean and the chief of staff at the hospital, told the Star.
The patient, who passed away on Thursday afternoon, returned to the hospital after three days when his condition worsened.
This time, he detailed his travel to southern Africa and was immediately admitted and secluded in a special area.
Tests for coronavirus returned positive results.
Dr Twahir said the staff who interacted with him in the first visit be quarantined 14 days as a precaution.
He said their exposure was classified into high or low risk and majority of them had low risk exposure.