Nairobians want Uhuru to end travel ban, curfew - Poll

A majority of Nairobi residents want president Uhuru Kenyatta to announce an end to both travel ban and night curfew.

This comes even as the president is expected to address the nation on Monday July 6, as the dawn to dusk curfew timeline expires.

A poll by TIFA released on Sunday indicates that 59 per cent want the restrictions to end so that people can resume their normal economic activities even if this means the virus will surge.

579 respondents (Male = 306, Female = 273) were interviewed with a margin-of-error +/- 4.1% for the total sample.

However, more than one-third held the opposite view. The 39 per cent want the restrictions to remain to help reduce or even stop the virus even if this means economic hardship for many.

Out of this population, 35 per cent say they have suffered loss of daily earnings while 62 per cent of those who wants the ban lifted also reported loss of daily earnings.

According to the poll, 86 per cent want the travel restriction to remain as it is. But another 79 per cent wants the curfew to remain with reduced hours.

When asked to identify the main way this travel restriction has impacted them/their households, by far more (54%) respondents mention their inability to visit their rural homes, whether for social or economic reasons (or for both).

Not being able to get to a place of work outside the Nairobi area also most affected a substantial number of respondents (13%), the same applying to those (14%) who needed/need to make such trips for a variety of other reasons.

The filed work was done on June 2 to 15 in Nairobi's Huruma, Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho, Mukuru kwa Njenga and Kawangware.

Survey was sponsored by the Canadian High Commission in Kenya and the Hanns Seidel Foundation-Kenya.

In terms of education, 44% did not study past primary school and another 11% did not complete secondary school, and only 19% went beyond this level.

As of Saturday, Kenya reported 7,577 Covid-19 cases after 389 people tested positive in the last 24 hours.

This is from a sample of 4,829 people who were tested in the same period.

Last week, the Kenya Medical Research Institute estimated  that about 550,000 people in Nairobi and roughly 100,000 in Mombasa, have already contracted and recovered from Covid-19, probably gaining some immunity.

Scientists suggest that about 2.6 million Kenyans already have the coronavirus,  after they tested donated blood for antibodies.