If you lock up people and reopen after two weeks you will have done nothing

Prof Lukoye Atwoli, the Dean of Aga Khan University’s Medical College (EA), on Wednesday said that there is no point of locking down the country at the moment unless there are other interventions.

In recent days, the number of Coronavirus infections have been on the rise, fueling talk of a lockdown to contain the situation.

However, Prof Atwoli is not for the idea, saying it might cause more harm than good.

“Ideally the restriction of movement must be accompanied by other interventions. If you just lock up people in their houses for two weeks and then reopen, you will have done absolutely nothing.

“In fact you will have done more harm than good,” he said.

Ever since the cessation of movement order was lifted, the country has continued to record high numbers, prompting some governors to contemplate shutting their counties to prevent further spread of coronavirus.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has rescheduled the 5^th Extra-Ordinary Session of the National and County Governments Co-ordinating Summit to review the surge of Covid-19 infections in the country from Friday, July 24, 2020 to Monday, July 27, 2020.

According to a statement by State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena, the Head of State acceded to the request by the Council of governors to push the meeting to Monday.

The summit will, among other things, assess counties’ preparedness within the wider national response to the coronavirus pandemic, especially now that most counties have registered at least a case.

Further, it will evaluate the overall national response and capacity, review the efficacy of the containment measures in place and assess the impact of the phased easing of the restrictions that were in place.

Dena said the meeting would also consider the evolution of the disease and the medical models on how Covid-19 may propagate over the months of August and September.