Kenya: Mass Testing Campaign Encounters Public Reluctance

A mass coronavirus (COVID-19) testing campaign launched by the Kenyan health ministry has recorded low turnouts, highlighting the widespread concerns of the citizenry.

The government recently rolled out mass testing around two major areas in the nation’s capital, Nairobi, which is home to over 4.3 million people.

Despite health ministry official, Rashid Aman, announcing on Sunday, 3 May, that the service would be offered for free, only a few hundred showed up.

Many Kenyans told local news outlets that they feared developing systems of the contagion whilst waiting to be examined, and then being taken to quarantine centres where they would have to pay for their treatment.

Several community leaders are all for door-to-door testing. Meanwhile, others have claimed that the campaign will only be successful if the government foots the bill for quarantining those who test positive, and improving the living conditions of isolation posts.

The east African country has recorded 465 current positive cases of COVID-19, with 24 casualties of the disease.

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