The country has confirmed 15 new cases of Corona virus after testing of 1,434 people in the last 24 hours bringing the total tally now to 411.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe while issuing the daily Covid-19 presser at Afya house today announced that 4 people however succumbed to the disease bringing the total to 21.
He noted that more people have recovered with the number now standing at 150 after 6 were discharged on Friday.
“As at today, out of 411 cases confirmed, 36.5 percent have recovered while 5.1 deaths have occurred. 14 out of 47 counties have been affected with majority of cases representing 91 percent reported in Nairobi and Mombasa and 71 percent being asymptomatic”, Kagwe said
The new cases today were aged between 2 and 79 years, with 8 being males and 7 being female, the CS said adding that the ministry was monitoring 830 contacts.
He noted that so far, the number of listed and followed up since confirmation of the pandemic stands at 3684 while discharges from follow up are 2854.
During the press briefing, The CS made a presentation highlighting areas that government had identified as hotspots in the country noting Nairobi and Mombasa as most affected
Nairobi’s Kawangware area has become a hotbed for infections, he said revealing that the area had so far recorded 13 Covid-19 confirmed cases while Mvita had 36 cases
“If you live in Kawangware and Mvita in Mombasa you must now know that the person next to you might be infected,” Kagwe stated.
The CS noted that 44 per cent of infections in the country were female, while 56 percent were male but revealed that only a small percentage of women had succumbed to the virus compared to the male and also women had a higher recovery rate.
Local transmission also now stands at 64 percent with 261 cases while imported cases are at 36 percent with 150 cases,
“No persons aged between 15 and 30 years had succumbed to the virus and this is because they have stronger immunity “, he said but also warned the same age against recklessness, arguing that they may be carriers of the virus and pose danger to others.
CS Kagwe said th government has expanded targeted testing of track drivers, in hotspot areas, restaurants, eateries and also in health workers.
The government, he further added was also in the process of operationalization of additional labs to enhance testing capacity in Busia, Machakos, Kitale and Malindi.
“Initially we started with two labs. Capacity to test is being scaled up and currently we have 15 labs both public and private that are fully operational. To date we have teted a total of 21,702”, he explained
The ministry, Kagwe said had also acquired more equipment and thus increased the testing capacity as presented by the increase in the number of samples examined over the last 24 hours which is up from the 707 tested on yesterday.
As at yesterday 30th April, Globally the total number of Covid 19 infections stands at 3,090,445 cases and 217,769 deaths have been reported by World Health Organization (WHO) with Case fatality rate standing at 7 percent
With the Africa region, 24,713 cases have been reported with 938 deaths and case fatality is at 3.8 percent.
By Wangari Ndirangu
Government updates on Covid 19 situation
