The country continues to register an increase in cases of COVID 19 since restrictions were lifted on 6th July 2020, with an upsurge in cumulative caseload and mortality.
Nairobi County alone accounts for 59 percent of cases while the top ten counties account for 93 percent of all cases.
Giving the daily update of the COVID 19 cases in the Country, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dr. Mercy Mwangangi said as of yesterday, all the 47 counties had reported cases, with Nairobi bearing the most burden at 18,488, followed by Kiambu with 2,335, then Mombasa comes in third with 2,260 and Kajiado is fourth with 1,727.
Others are Machakos 1,125, Busia 945, Nakuru 713, Uasin Gishu 432 , Migori 385, Nyeri 232, Kericho 216, Garissa 203, Kisumu 200, Laikipia 197, Narok 188, Murang’a 145, Kilifi 144, Makueni 131, Kitui 103, Bomet 99, Kisii 95, Turkana 78, Meru 69, Kwale 67, Siaya 65, Lamu 64, Taita Taveta 63, Nandi 58, Kakamega 55, Kirinyaga 52, Trans Nzoia 51, Isiolo 42, Bungoma 39, Nyandarua 39, Samburu 38, Wajir 38, Tharaka-Nithi 37, Embu 36, Homa Bay 36, Baringo 35, Mandera 28, Vihiga 26, Marsabit 17, Nyamira 17, Tana River 16, Elgeyo Marakwet 6 and West Pokot 6.
“Nairobi and Mombasa Counties, continue to record the highest attack rates of COVID-19, at 420.5 and 187 per 100,000 population respectively, when compared to the national average of 66.1”, she said
Dr. Mwangangi explained that 30,854, which is equivalent to 98 percent of the 31,441 confirmed cases, are local transmissions and from the confirmed cases, 20,236 are males while 11,205 are females.
“ Most of the cases, that is 10,283, which is about 33 percent, are in the age group of 30-39 years and this should therefore be a wake-up call to all our youth, that this disease is real, and is claiming lives”, the CAS said .
The case fatality rate now stands at 1.6 percent, Dr. Mwangangi said noting that there are 516 confirmed deaths and out of this, 386 which is about 75 percent, are males and 130, which is about 25 percent, are females.
The average positivity rate stands at 7.9 percent, from a total of 396,176 tests, that have so far been conducted since the pandemic struck the Country in March while the laboratory test rate currently stands at 8,329 samples per 1,000,000 people.
“Out of the 31,441 confirmed cases, 2,074, which is about 7 percent, were symptomatic, 51 percent of these showed symptoms of cough, and 37 percent had symptoms of fever, while 27 percent had difficulty in breathing. It is further interesting to note, that a total of 29,367 which is about 93 per cent were asymptomatic cases”, Dr. Mwangangi said.
She explained that 17,869 patients have been discharged from various hospitals, as well as from Home-Based Care program.
On the other hand, the CAS said that 885 frontline health workers have been infected, with 16 deaths being reported across 35 counties, 31 patients are currently in the Intensive Care Units across various health facilities in the country.
Whilst the country has recorded some significant gains in efforts to fight the pandemic, Dr. Mwangangi said that stigmatization of patients remains a matter of great concern and appealed to people not to stigmatize those who have recovered as anyone can get the disease
On today’s statistics, the CAS said that out of 4,470 samples tested in the last 24 hours, 322 people have tested positive bringing to 31,763 the number of confirmed positive cases, pushing our cumulative tests to 412,080.
From the cases today all are Kenyans except nine (9) who are foreigners, with 179 males and 143 females. The youngest case is a three year old-baby while the oldest is 92 years.
The distribution of the cases by Counties is as follows; Nairobi 106 Kajiado 53, Machakos 25, Nakuru 25, Kiambu 23, Kisii 23, Busia 13, Mombasa 11, Kisumu 5, Bomet 5, Garissa 4, Homabay 4, Nandi 4, Uasin Gishu 3, Kitui 3, Nyandarua 3, Taita Taveta 3, Turkana 3, Nyamira 2, Kericho 1, Murang’a 1, Vihiga 1 and Makueni 1.
288 patients have today recovered from the disease, with 190 being from the Home-Based Care program, while 98 have been discharged from various hospitals. this brings the total number of recoveries now stands at 18,157.
Unfortunately, 16 patients have succumbed to the disease, bringing the fatality rate to 532..
By Wangari Ndirangu
