• Uhuru told Kagwe and Macharia to consult with all stakeholders before rolling out the new rules.
• The President delivered the 14th address on the coronavirus pandemic on Friday at State House, Nairobi.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed Transport CS James Macharia and Health CS Mutahi Kagwe to revise Covid-19 guidelines for the public transport sector.
Uhuru told Kagwe and Macharia to consult with all stakeholders before rolling out the new rules.
The President delivered the 14th address on the coronavirus pandemic on Friday at State House, Nairobi.
The public transport sector has been using guidelines provided by the President last year and revised by CS Macharia.
The rules require passengers to wear face masks, sit a metre apart and sanitise before boarding matatus.
Matatu owners are to ensure the PSVs are fumigated after every trip.
Currently, a 14-seater matatu carries 10 passengers, up from eight while a 33-seater bus is allowed 18 passengers including the driver and crew.
Boda bodas are allowed only one pillion passenger.
On Friday, Uhuru said the virus has developed mutations reported in Britain, Brazil, and South Africa.
"We do not know how it will spread, and the havoc it will wreak on our population," he said. He said 1,879 lives have been lost in one year.
Uhuru said experts had warned the country could have recorded approximately one million infections nationally by Christmas 2020 and 150,000 deaths if bold decisions were not taken.
He said when measures were escalated in July last year, the positivity rate fell from 13 per cent in June to 4 per cent in September.
While releasing the PSV protocols last year, Macharia said the Covid-19 pandemic had changed the normal way of life.
“All travel shall be in strict conformity with all protocols from the Ministry of Health and any additional requirements applicable to the different modes of transport,” Macharia said.
Local air travel resumed on July 15 last and international flights on August 1.
Rail transport resumed July 20 while public service vehicles on July 21.
At the airports, cleaning and disinfection of terminals were intensified. All passengers had their temperature checked before entry to the airport.
Where a passenger’s body temperature was found to be 37.5°C or higher, checks were to be repeated at least once for confirmation purposes.
Any passenger with elevated body temperature was to be referred to secondary assessment by Port Health services present for Covid-19 testing and will not be allowed to travel.
Foods and drinks during travelling had been reduced.
Travelers were also expected to provide their details to the relevant public health authorities upon request for contact tracing purposes.
All passengers in the SGR were required to wear appropriate face masks while entering the station and maintain them during the entire journey.
Counters with glass barriers were to be manned by an officer in PPE and who printed all the tickets on behalf of the passengers.
Passengers were not to be allowed to operate the ticketing machine.
While waiting in the ticket queue, train passengers were to observe the social distancing rule.
All staff on duty, who during temperature screening had a body temperature of 37.5°C or higher, were not allowed to travel.
They were to be isolated, tested for Covid-19, and certified negative before being allowed to embark on any trip.
All staff was to use personal protective equipment when in direct contact with passengers and when conducting service or giving care to passengers.