• Kenyans to ensure the masks they buy have three layers
• Industrialisation CS Betty Maina on Friday said already more than one million masks had been manufactured
Face masks in the country are expected to retail for as low as Sh5 as the government has begun the process of mass manufacturing.
Industrialisation CS Betty Maina on Friday said already more than one million masks had been manufactured and were at various levels of the distribution channel.
“Form the indication we have received from the manufactures and the retailers and based on the volume expected, we don’t expect any of these masks available for sale to sell for more than Sh20,” Maina said.
“I am sure people will be able to be very innovative about it and I am certain some prices could even come as low as Sh5.”
She, however, called on Kenyans to ensure the masks they buy have three layers as the others are only capable of protecting them from dust and not the coronavirus.
“When you go out to buy ensure it has got three layers. There is one inner layer, the outer layer and the darker part for gathering dust but there will be a filter inside it so that medical personnel can wear and also all of us can wear,” she said.
The CS said so far currently the local manufacturers have in stock sufficient fabric that can make 60 million masks immediately.
The government is in touch with the four local manufactures to ensure their distribution chain is activated to make the fabrics available to even tailors and other people in the villages in an effort to expand the country’s manufacturing capacity as quickly as possible.
A lot of debate has been ongoing on whether or not members of the public have to wear masks.
The ministry had always maintained that masks being a scarce resource at this time should be left only to the sick and healthcare providers.
“If you are not unwell, you are wasting a useful resource which is hard to come by at the moment. Please let’s keep the masks for those of us who are unwell and the healthcare workers so that it can serve its purpose,” DG Patrick Amoth has always emphasized.
But the debate now seems to be taking a twist.
Reports now indicate that a panel of advisers from the World Health Organisation is now exploring a possibility of reviewing the advice about masks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also been against people who are well wearing a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including the COVID-19.
The Drug and Food Authority, on the other hand, had expressed concern that N95 masks even though have the ability to block large-particle droplets that may contain germs when properly fitted, might not be able to filter out very small particles in the air that may be transmitted by coughs or sneezes.