Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The alert comes following the governments warning through the National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus, that days after the country recorded the first case of Covid-19 omicron variant Wednesday, December 15, the positivity rate of Covid-19 is “now at 29.6%.”
“While we are being informed that the Omicron variant is less aggressive than the Delta and other former variants, it is still necessary to remain very cautious, as the numbers of the infected is rising very sharply,” Religious leaders stated in their statement signed by the chairman Archbishop Anthony Muheria of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri, adding that “This is bound to result to larger numbers getting seriously sick from a bigger infected population size.”
The Council for National Response to Coronavirus Pandemic that was created last year by President Uhuru Kenyatta and mandated to oversee the resumption of public worship in the country, appealed to all Kenyan’s in their Wednesday, December 22, statement considering “the intense social interaction that normally surrounds the Christmas season,… not to let down our guard, as we are still faced with a serious threat.”
Acknowledging that congregants of various Faiths will have the Worship services over Christmas, the Council members stressed full compliance with the Interfaith Guidelines, both for the night vigils and the day Worship services urging the pastors and Religious leaders “not make the services unnecessarily long.”
They requested that if Christmas Carol services are to take place, “they should be short, and all should wear their masks during the singing,… the transport sector should also encourage all travelers to use their masks properly and all leaders and the political class to put off all the political and public gatherings, until such a moment that the infection rate is lowered.”
The term of office for Interfaith Council Comprising of 16 members from various Faith institutions that was to end December 31, 2020, was extended by the President early this year following the second wave of Covid-19 that arose in the country which called for continuous adherence to precautions and development of modalities to prevent the spread of the pandemic.