• He said while it is important for Kenyans to shop, failure to observe containment measures will likely roll back all the gains that have been made.
•He said the government is also concerned by political gatherings that have continued to draw large crowds.
The government has raised concerns over laxity by Kenyans in observing Covid-19 containment measures.
Health CAS Rashid Aman said though there is some progress that has been made in containing the pandemic, surveillance teams have established that most of the protocols have been thrown out the window.
Aman said the majority of Kenyans are no longer wearing face masks while in public places as outlined in protocols.
He said there is a shocking laxity by the public transport sector to observe guidelines towards containing the disease.
"We have noted increased carrying of excess passengers in public vehicles, overcrowding in shopping centres especially markets," Aman said.
He said while it is important for Kenyans to shop, failure to observe containment measures will likely roll back all the gains that have been made.
He said the government is also concerned by political gatherings that have continued to draw large crowds.
"I want to urge all Kenyans to cooperate by doing what they are expected to do. While it is important to go on with our daily duties let us not lose focus on the fight against the disease," he said.
Aman said surveillance teams have also noted increased stigmatisation and discrimination of those discharged.
"This is a matter that we have talked about severally in our briefings. Such moves only drive the disease underground defeating efforts to overcome it," he said.
Aman said coronavirus cannot be equated to HIV which has been is not stigmatised as much nowadays.
"As we have always said let us not stigmatise those who have contracted the virus because it is not a preserve of certain people, anybody can contract it irrespective of social standing," the CAS said.
Aman said the spread of the virus continues to manifest in communities with Nairobi, Mombasa and Kiambu bearing the largest burden of case load.
According to Aman, counties that had low infection rates are now becoming hot spots with numbers rising.
"For instance, Kitui county which initially had very low numbers has reported the highest cases overtaking Nairobi," he said.
So far Kenya has reported 35,458 positive cases out of which 64 per cent are male.
Out of the 607 fatalities that have been reported since the first case on March 11, Aman said 75 per cent are male with a third being those aged between 30 and 39 years.
So far a total of 21,557 patients have recovered from the home-based care programme and discharges from various hospitals across the country.