Covid-19: Ministry hails new measures as positivity rate drops to 11pc
The outcome of the recently imposed Covid-19 containment measures is “encouraging”, the Health ministry said Friday, noting that 30 days since they were announced, the positivity rate is on a decline.
President Uhuru Kenyatta placed Nairobi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Machakos and Nakuru counties on a partial lockdown after declaring them disease infested.
"In that period, the positivity rate has gone down from about 20 per cent to about 16 per cent, the number of patients relying on oxygen has dropped, the ICU occupancy rate is slowly decreasing and the fatality rate has also come down," Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe noted in a statement on the state of the pandemic in Kenya.
CS Kagwe announced 773 new cases from a sample of 7,036 analysed within a day, which translated to a positivity rate of about 11 per cent as of Friday.
“While this is good news, these are precarious gains that need to be guarded jealously because these figures fluctuate. We can celebrate them only in the context of the lesson, which is that containment measures work,” he said.
New infections
The number of declared infections in Kenya as of Friday was 155,165, including 106,093 recoveries and 2,583 deaths.
In terms of case distribution by county, Nairobi recorded 273, Trans Nzoia 66, Mombasa 43, Nakuru 43, Uasin Gishu 42, Kericho 32, Kisumu 29, Kiambu and Turkana 23 each, Kajiado 15, Nyeri and Machakos 14 each, Meru and Kisii 13 each, and Makueni, Embu, Nandi and Nyandarua 11 each.
Garissa and Bomet had 10 cases each, Murang’a nine, Kitui eight, Laikipia and Siaya six each, Kirinyaga five, Bungoma and Kilifi four each, Busia, Migori and Baringo three each, Elgeyo Marakwet, Homa Bay, Nyamira and Taita Taveta two each, and Kakamega, Marsabit, Narok, Samburu, Isiolo, Vihiga & West Pokot one each.
Admissions
CS Kagwe further reported 726 more recoveries, 397 of them in hospital and 329 under home-based isolation and care.
Twenty three more deaths raised the toll to 2,583 but none of them was new. Ten occurred over the last month while 13 were late death reports confirmed during the audit of facility records.
About 1,469 patients had been admitted to hospitals countrywide by Friday while 6,795 were under home-based care.
Of those admitted, 236 were under intensive care, 53 of them on ventilatory support, 153 on supplemental oxygen and 30 under observation.
Another 162 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 150 of them in general wards and 12 in high dependency units.
Vaccination
The country also hit a new high in the number of people vaccinated against Covid-19, which was 802,760.
Among them were 462,256 people aged at least 58 years, 150,465 health workers, 123,262 teachers and 66,777 security officers.
So far, 1,080,000 vaccine does have been distributed to regional depots, with only 40,000 remaining at the Kitengela central vaccine store.
Counties were asked to reach out to as many people as possible in their vaccination campaigns.
“I encourage them to sensitise people on the importance of being vaccinated and [not to hoard] vaccines with the aim of conserving them to ensure a second dose,” he said. BY DAILY NATION
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