Kenya's Covid-19 cases exceed 150,000, positivity rate now 13.4 per cent

 

Kenya’s Covid-19 positivity rate on Friday stood at 13.4 per cent, the Health ministry said, announcing 1,041 new infections from a sample of 7,753 analysed in the past 24 hours.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health said the number of confirmed cases since the first one last March had risen to 150,260.

By Friday, the country had tested a total of 1,592,484 samples for the coronavirus.

Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe also announced 19 more deaths, raising the toll to 2,443, but said that only one of them occurred in the last 24 hours.

Nine occurred in the last one-month while another nine were late death reports found the audit of facility records, he explained.

The number of recovered patients grew by 343 to 100,580, CS Kagwe also reported, saying 217 of the patients were under home-based care while 126 had been admitted.

Case distribution

Of the 1,041 new patients, 1,009 were Kenyans and 32 foreigners, 629 male and 412 female, the youngest two years old and the oldest 93.

Nairobi County led with 323 new infections and was followed by Trans Nzoia with 71, Mombasa 62, Nakuru 44, Uasin Gishu and Nyamira 43 each, Siaya 41, Kitui 40, Kisumu 36, Nyeri 32, Busia 31 and Kiambu 28.

And then came Meru with 27, Kakamega 25, Kilifi 22, Turkana 18, Nyandarua 17, Machakos and Garissa 16 each, Tharaka Nithi 15, Bungoma 12, Kajiado and Nandi 10 each, Makueni nine, Homa Bay eight, Kericho seven, Mandera six, and Laikipia and Murangá five each.

Taita Taveta recorded three new cases, Isiolo, Kisii, Marasabit, Migori, Narok,Vihiga, and West Pokot two each, and Elgeyo Marakwet and Kwale counties one each.

ICU cases

As of Friday, CS Kagwe also reported, 1,588 patients had been admitted to health facilities throughout the country while 5,757 were being treated at home.

Of those hospitalised, 260 were under intensive care, 47 of them on ventilatory support, 164 on supplemental oxygen and 49 under observation.

Another 246 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 234 of them in general wards and 12 in high dependency units.

Vaccination

The ministry further noted that on Friday, 28,234 people were vaccinated across the country, raising the total number of those who had taken the jab to 651,650.

Among them were 365,178 people aged 58 years and above, 136,084 health workers, 97,786 teachers and 52,602 security officers.

In terms of gender, 56 per cent were male while 44 were female.

Nairobi County has utilised the highest number of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses, with 284,506 distributed and 207,926 people vaccinated so far.    BY DAILY NATION