Friday, 30 April, 2021
India is approximately 5,013 km from Kenya and it takes 6 hours of flight to reach Kenya from India. She has a population of 1.3 billion people. As at now the death toll in India is at 205K since the first case was reported in India. Between April 18 and April 25, India reported a total 2.24M new cases of corona virus and 16,257 deaths. It is said that this has doubled what was reported the previous week.
The types of AstraZeneca vaccines produced in India are Astra Zeneca-Vaxzevria, Serum Institute India SII Covishield, and SK Bioscience, (WHO). The world health organization has also confirmed risk associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine i.e. Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome. However, it still upholds that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the risks. Recently, the vaccines approved for use in India are Covishield and Covaxin and Sputnik V
The Indian variant dubbed "double mutation" is wreaking havoc and right now the hospitals and crematoriums are overwhelmed. The presence of the” double mutant” was first acknowledged by the India health ministry at the end of March.
Kenya, given its proximity to India, has banned all flights to and from India. Kenyans needs to be vigilant more than ever since it took some time before the ban is implemented. Actually the ban has been implemented due public outcry from social media. The containment measures may be revived so it is good to be psychologically prepared just in case the government decides to impose complete lockdown.