Family members will have to shoulder the burden of taking care of Covid-19 asymptomatic patients going forward.
In an effort to free beds for serious cases only, the government has resolved that all asymptomatic cases will have to be managed at home by their families, amid rising cases. This means individuals without symptoms will no longer be admitted to hospitals.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has ordered all the field hospitals that had been closed when the infection reduced reopened to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
On Thursday, 761 people tested positive for the virus from a sample size of 4,830, representing a positivity rate of 15 per cent. The total confirmed cases in the country now stand at 52,612.
Families, with the support of community health workers, will be required to learn how to manage positive people who are not sick.
“There is no reason for us to hospitalise an individual who shows no sign of any sickness except they are positive,” the CS said.
He noted that patients under the home-based care programme recover faster than those in health facilities.
“We have also known and witnessed cases where some individuals are contaminated by other infections in hospitals then pass away because of something else even though they were taken to hospital because of Covid-19,” Kagwe said.
The CS said that going forward, with clear protocols, any individual who exposes themselves or behaves carelessly should do so bearing in mind people who are going to take care of them are their own family members.
“It is, therefore, advisable for you to wear your mask, keep your distance, and avoid places where you know you can get the virus. It is now a family responsibility.
“Each family member must protect the other family member because if one of you gets the virus and provided you are not sick, it is the people in the family who have to take care of you,” Kagwe said.
He warned that the country is still in the midst of the pandemic, adding that the number of cases in hospitals and fatalities has gone up.
“We are essentially in some second wave of the virus. In the first wave, the highest positivity rate was 13 per cent in July. But on Tuesday, the positivity rate was 20.2 per cent and 15 per cent on Wednesday and Thursday.”
This week alone, the number of people who have died from the virus by Thursday was 68. This included the 14 announced on Thursday. In a span of seven days, 94 people died.
The country has recorded 5,400 new cases in week 33 of the pandemic, from a sample size of 37,376, representing a 14.4 per cent positivity rate.
“Clearly, we have an issue to deal with,” Kagwe said.
Currently, 1,084 patients are hospitalised across the country, 35 in intensive care units, out of whom 14 are on supplementary oxygen and 18 on ventilatory support.
Forty patients are separately on supplementary oxygen but not in the ICU, while 24 are in high dependency units.
In terms of the distribution of cases per county, Nairobi recorded 395, followed by Uasin Gishu with 103, Mombasa with 55, Kiambu with 44, Kilifi with 30, Busia with 21, Migori with 14, while Nakuru, Trans Nzoia and Machakos had 12 each.
Embu and Kajiado had 11 cases each, Kirinyaga eight, Homa Bay six, Kwale five, Nyandarua, Nyeri and Vihiga three cases each, West Pokot, Meru and Tharaka Nithi with two cases each, while Kakamega, Wajir, Siaya, Murang’a, Nandi, Taita Taveta and Lamu recorded one case each.
Meanwhile, 3,646 patients recovered from the virus on Thursday — 223 from the home-based care programme and 123 from hospitals. This raised the number of recoveries to 35,604.