In an attempt to reduce the transmission of the Covid-19 coronavirus, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered the closure of the nation's land borders with Tanzania and Somalia effective midnight local time on Saturday. The closure will exempt cargo transport, although all drivers entering Kenya will be tested for the coronavirus. President Kenyatta says that last week alone, 78 cargo truck drivers tested positive for the virus, and were denied entry permission.

In addition, overnight curfews have been prolonged by 21 days while movement into and out of several major cities and towns including the capital city of Nairobi have been temporarily banned. Kenya currently has 887 confirmed cases of Covid-19 alongside 50 Covid-19-related deaths. 313 people have recovered so far.

Measures taken by the Kenyan government to combat financial hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic include 100% tax relief to citizens earning under 24,000 Kenyan shillings (About $228 United States dollars), reduction of VAT from 16% to 14%, lowering the Central Bank Rate from 8.25% to 7.25%, and the reduction of resident income tax to 25%  

Note: The statistics and numbers from this post were retrieved from the Kenyan Ministry of Health (https://www.health.go.ke/) and the Johns Hopkins University (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality). All photos were retrieved from the public domain, and do not require citation or other attribution for any use, including for commercial use.