Evaluation Summary:
The data and analyses presented in this paper are important for understanding the sources and spread of SARS-CoV-2 across Kenya during the first two waves and are a timely contribution to our understanding of the pandemic in East Africa as a whole. The manuscript provides a clear picture of the viral lineages spreading in coastal Kenya, but sampling biases in the Kenyan and global datasets used make it difficult to evaluate conclusions concerning imports and exports of SARS-CoV-2 into and out of Kenya.
(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)