Kenya

From Stu and Annie Ross, East Africa Mission Consultants for Outreach

The Coronavirus pandemic is gripping Kenya as it is also crippling the United States. There are some big differences comparing the two countries. 

In Kenya, communications are not as good as here. Only 50% of Kenyans have internet. So many people in Kenya are not getting all the information needed. Also, statistics on the pandemic are not very reliable. 

Food distribution is a severe problem and people are starving because of the virus. In Kibera, several days ago there were a stampede as an NGO was distributing food. “It’s food we are coming for, we are not dying from the virus but hunger.” After that riot, the government said there will be no more food distribution unless it goes through the government. Large food markets have been closed so farmers do not have a good way of getting food to the final consumer.

As of this date, there have been 234 identified Coronavirus cases and 11 deaths. There hasn’t been a lot of testing. But Kenya has just received 20,000 test kits from the WHO. They will start testing all front-line healthcare workers who have been exposed to the virus. Testing will start ramping up. The encouraging thing in Kenya is that the numbers are only moving up slowly, a handful each day.

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