Browsing: Coronavirus in Kenya

Kenya’s Safaricom M-Pesa —one of Africa’s and East Africa’s largest mobile money service, could be affected by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), as the service provider anticipates its revenue to be hit to almost $51.64 million in the three months from mid-march after it adjusted prices because of the COVID-19 crisis, according to information from Reuters

According to Reuters, the lost revenue which is almost 7.3 per cent of the mobile money service provider annual revenue, will be caused by the removal of all charges on small peer-to-peer transfers to facilitate cashless payments to help to contain the coronavirus pandemic, which has already taken a toll in other crucial sectors of the East African economy.

As one among the region’s and global leader in the industry, the South African and Britain owned company is not worried by the forecast, as the company’s CEO Peter Ndegwa told Reuters, that they anticipate getting …

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken a new stage in Tanzania, as the country registers two more deaths and the number of infected patients of the contagious virus rises to 32.

According to information from Tanzania’s health minister Ummy Mwalimu, the two deaths are male Tanzanians aged 51 and 57 whose cases were reported on April 8.

Hence, the five patients are four men aged 68, 57, 54, 41, and one woman aged 35 all residents of the nation’s commercial, capital Dar es Salaam.

READ:COVID-19 in East Africa: Tanzania records first death

According to the minister, the number now stands at 32 after the Zanzibar (semi-autonomous region of Tanzania) health minister earlier in the day announced two new cases on the Isles.

“Of the 32 cases recorded so far, five have healed and discharged, 24 others are still receiving treatment whereas three have passed on,” said the Minister in …

The number of people infected with coronavirus in Kenya is now at 158.

This is according to President Uhuru Kenyatta who also noted that the government has a total of 4,277 persons.

So far four people have fully recovered from the virus while have passed on.

“While the majority of people who get it recover, most without showing severe symptoms, if it spreads to large numbers, it can lead to unprecedented pressure on our medical facilities which will lead to unprecedented loss of life,” said the President in his state address.

Measures taken to curb the spread of Coronavirus.

• Wearing a mask when outside the home.
• Cleaning your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds several times a day.

 

• Avoiding all areas with people who will be closer to you than 1.5 meters.

 

• Heeding and complying with government directives.

 

• Taking extra care not to expose those who are over

…

Several firms have moved to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic by working to provide sanitation equipment to the vulnerable public in order to fight the COVID-19.

Dettol products manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser has donated 7,200 bars of handwashing soap worth Sh500,000 to support handwashing activities as part of the ongoing response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The items will be distributed through the Kenya Red Cross Society.

Among the beneficiaries of the items will be travelers arriving from abroad and who will be under government supervised quarantine in various public facilities.

“We as Dettol  support government efforts to maintain high hygiene standards and are cognizant of the fact that these items may be quite unaffordable to a good number of Kenyans, many who are already out of work. “says Treza Kinoru, Marketing Manager Africa Expansion, Reckitt Benckiser (RB).

She added that the company will continue to make its handwashing products available at …

Over 46 African nations are feeling the coronavirus pandemic pinch, and much more scenarios are unveiled as days go.

Mandatory curfews are some of the measures being rolled out in East Africa (Kenya, and Uganda), Tanzania’s with hotels running low on customers and even considering a  possible shut-down. The tourism industry is slowing down too.

However, the COVID-19 could also cause serious trouble, within economic lines for Africa, as the world economy hangs in the balance.

According to information from Bloomberg, the fear of the pandemic could trigger investors to exit markets.

Few emerging-market currencies have been spared as the spread of the coronavirus causes investors to dump riskier assets and the dollar to surge. But Africa has been hit harder than most — and the signs are there’s worse to come.

Kenya’s shilling, Angola’s kwanza and Zambia’s kwacha have all fallen to record lows this month. Ghana’s cedi and …

Kenya has reported 9 more cases of the Coronavirus bringing the total number of infected people in the country to 25.

This is according to the Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe who said that in the last 24 hours, a total of 82 samples had been tested in various laboratories including the National Influeza Centre, KEMRI Nairobi-Welcome Trust Kilifi and the Aga Khan Hospital Nairobi.

“These cases are spread out in four counties namely Nairobi, Kilifi and Kwale. Out of the nine new confirmed cases, seven are Kenyans while two are foreigners. And of the seven, three have contracted the virus from close contact of previously confirmed cases while the four others contracted the same from countries that are affected with the virus,” said the CS.

Meanwhile Local retailer Tusker Mattresses Group and Amref Health Africa in Kenya have announced a working partnership leveraging mutual capacities to manage the Coronavirus …

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is in East Africa, and has now penetrated Tanzania whereby until yesterday 12 (4 foreign national and 8 Tanzanian citizens) cases were reported.

Hence—unequivocally the Tanzanian government stated that almost 20 samples tested were negative, including the first patient.

According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic which has spread in more than 170 countries, taken more than 14,000 lives, and infected over 300,000 people.

Hence, this pandemic brought Tanzania President John Magufuli before the public, and addressed the nation of more than 55 million, to stay strong and be resilience through the outbreak.

The outbreak has also taken a toll on Tanzania’s economic landscape, hurting trade operations particularly between Tanzania and China of which their bilateral trade volumes stand at almost $3 billion.

Air Tanzania Company Limited has also seen a revenue loss of about 2 to 3 per cent, and just last week, the …

According to the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, All 27 people who came in contact with the first patients tested negative for Coronavirus.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit Tanzania, and it is taking a rather serious toll in the East African nation of more than 55 million people, forcing lifestyle choice to change and economic operations to shrink.

In the past weeks, Tanzania had no cases, but currently, there are 6 cases registered in Tanzania. Since the virus made its way to Tanzania, the government of Tanzania has instructed closure of schools, higher learning institutions, and rolled in precautionary measures to various sectors including transport and health.

The ministry of health revealed on 18 March 2020, that the task force tracked all contacts related to the patient, of which have now risen to 27, and tested negative for COVID-19

Since the first case broke, Tanzania has seen a stark rise in hand-sanitizer …

The World Bank Group gave $12 billion to help countries that are dealing with the health and economic effects of the global outbreak of coronavirus.

As coronavirus reaches more than 60 countries in the world, World bank’s financing is designed to help it’s member countries take constructive action to respond and reduce the tragic effects caused by the virus where possible.

Through this new package, the World Bank Group will help developing countries strengthen health systems, by bettering access to health services to protect people from the virus, strengthening the virus surveillance, improving the public health interventions and to reduce the impact on economies by working with the private sector.

To support country-based responses, World Bank’s financial package will be globally coordinated with financing drawn from across International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Through the coronavirus support package, initial crisis …

 The Tanzanian Ministry of Health has announced the presence of the first case of the coronavirus on Monday, March 16.

The case was found in Northern part of Tanzania, on a female Tanzanian patient, 46-year-old, who arrived in the country on March from Belgium onboard RwandAir plane and landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) on March 15.

The patient also visited Sweden and Denmark between March 3 and 13, before her return to Tanzania.

Despite Tanzania being prepared with thermal scanners installed in all airports, the patient passed the health checks undetected, as her body temperature was at the normal level, hence—the condition was not detected

According to the minister of health Ummy Mwalimu, the patient was sceptical of her health even after being cleared.

“From what she told me on the phone, while in Belgium, she lived in a home where the owner had suffered from the coronavirus,” the …