President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to address the nation this week amid speculation that he might announce an end to the night curfew.
The first shipment of Covax vaccines was due in Kenya last night with the intention of vaccinating health workers, police, teachers and over-50s by June. This is a cause for optimism. There is light at the end of the Covid tunnel.
Yet at the same time experts are warning of the risk of a 'third wave' of Covid infections in Kenya. Hospital beds are full and over nine percent of Covid tests are positive. This is no time for complacency.
It will be many months before a substantial proportion of the adult population is vaccinated. Moreover the vaccine does not provide total protection against Covid - most vaccines give between 90 and 95 percent protection. The virus can still spread aggressively in Kenya.
Therefore President Kenyatta should go slow on any relaxation of the Covid lockdown measures. In particular, he should retain the night time curfew because, if he abolished it, he would send out a dangerous signal that people were free to party and crowd together again.
Quote of the day: "A person's a person, no matter how small."
Dr. Seuss
The American children's author was born on March 2, 1904
