Ministry of Health Update of Coronavirus in the Country

The Government has discharged a record high of 97 patients, from various hospitals countrywide.

This now raises the total tally of recoveries to 849, the highest number of recoveries that has ever been recorded in a single 24-hour period.

Giving an update of today’s Covid 19 situation at Afya house the Chief  Administrative Secretary (CAS ) for Health, Dr. Rashid Aman said that the country is recording recoveries from the disease, which is an indication that, if the virus is detected early, and proper care is availed, recovery is almost certain.

He however, pointed out that the rising number of positives shows that containment measures are not fully being observed thus causing great concern whether the increasing number of infections will challenge and even overwhelm healthcare facilities.

“Let us work together to reduce the chain of transmission, and overcome this disease. Others have done it and we can also do it, by remaining focused on our overall goal. To achieve this, we should adhere to the containment measures,” the CAS said.

He also noted that the WHO has issued new guidelines  on wearing masks which require that people above 60 years, should wear N95 masks at all times when in public places because of lowered immunity.

In addition, the caregivers attending to patients under home based care programs, must also have the N95 masks, when offering care to such individuals.

The CAS announced that 95 more people have tested positive of coronavirus  out of a sample of 1,096 tested in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of positive cases in the country to 2,862. Overall the government has tested  98,439 so far.

Out of the positive cases, Dr. Rashid said, 92 are Kenyans and three are foreign Nationals,  57  are males and 38 are females while the youngest is one-year old, and the oldest is 72.

The county of Mombasa, has majority of the cases 56, Nairobi, 13, Busia, 10, Kajiado, six, Kilifi, three, Kitui, Kwale, Garissa and Marsabit have one case each.

Marsabit,  becomes  the latest county to report a COVID-19 case, bringing the total number of counties affected to 38.

The cases in Mombasa are from Mvita, 22, Changamwe, 13, Nyali,  seven, Kisauni, six, Likoni, five  and Jomvu, three cases.

In Nairobi, Kibra,  has 10 cases  while Langata, Kasarani and Dagoretti North, have one case each.  In Busia, nine of the 10 cases are of truck drivers from Malaba border point, while Busia border point has one case.

In Kajiado, two cases are from Kajiado East, and Kajiado North, one case. In Nyeri, all the three cases are of community nurses from Nyeri Central.  In Kilifi, the three cases are from Kilifi North, while Kitui has one case from Kitui Central, Kwale one case is from Msambweni, Garissa one case from Dadaab and Marsabit one case, from North Horr.

The CAS noted that the three healthcare workers who have tested positive in Nyeri clearly shows that the healthcare workers being the front line soldiers in this fight, are at a greater risk of contracting the disease.

He also noted that one more patient from Nairobi has succumbed to the disease, bringing the total fatality number to 85.

The government  he added is dedicated  to upgrading both infrastructure and human resource capacities in public healthcare systems in order to manage the cases.

The Ag. Director of Public Health, Dr. Francis Kuria said  that the backlog in testing in various labs especially in Mombasa and Nairobi is due to the low supply of the kits but assured that it has been cleared especially for the truck drivers.

“We are still facing issues with supply management and process of clearing consignments  but we are expecting manual test kits that we will be able to test and  break down the snarl up  at the border point especially Malaba,” he said.