Nairobi city county is leading with COVID 19 infections and as at Monday it had reported a total of 16,196 positive cases.
It is followed by Mombasa with 2,154, Kiambu with 1,964 cases, Kajiado with 1,514 cases and Machakos with 971.
The Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), Dr. Mercy Mwangangi said on Tuesday that West Pokot is the only county with one case as of yesterday but the situation changed today after Samburu which was the last County to report a case overtook four other Counties with positive cases rising to ten.
Giving the COVID status in the country today the CAS noted that it is evidently clear that Nairobi has now been identified as an epi-centre of the pandemic and thus there is urgent need to address the capacity of health services to handle the increasing numbers.
The CAS explained that according to an assessment carried out by the ministry on functional isolation and ICU beds that are immediately available for COVID-19 patients, Nairobi has a total of 1,180 beds, comprising of 1,104 isolation beds and 76 ICU beds in the 19 facilities so far assessed.
These facilities, she added comprise of Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS), Private and National Government (MOH) owned facilities.
“From this assessment, over 99 percent of the current bed count in Nairobi County, is attributed to beds outside Nairobi Metropolitan Service facilities and this is clear that without the private and National Government Sector, Nairobi would not meet the 300 minimum bed requirement,” she said .
Dr. Mwangangi thus said there was therefore need for NMS to provide a view of their facility coverage and projections, to close the gaps and recommended that they enter into Partnerships with the Private sector to adequately provide health services to the Nairobi Population.
“Although this scenario may be unique to Nairobi, the other Counties also need to take note and address their needs accordingly. And besides working with private facilities, all counties are encouraged to initiate collaboration with institutions of higher learning in their Counties, so as to develop best intervention measures against Covid-19,” the CAS advised.
Dr. Mwangangi called on all the 47 Counties, to upscale their level of preparedness considering that the local transmission of the virus is now spreading fast with 26,362 which is 98 percent of the 26,928 confirmed local transmission.
“In every village, every town and every county, time has now come for concerted efforts between both the National and County governments, in order to slay this dragon, “she stressed.
Turning to the latest COVID-19 statistics, Dr. Mwangangi said the country has now recorded 27,425 Covid 19 positive cases after 497 people tested positive from 4,171 samples tested in the last 24 hours.
“This now brings to pushing our cumulative tests to 362,501 and from the cases 467 are Kenyans while 30 are foreigners, 312 are males and 185 females and the youngest is a six month-old infant and the oldest is aged 80.
Out of the cases Nairobi had 236, Kiambu 45, Kajiado 26, Mombasa 19, Machakos 19, Laikipia 18, Trans Nzoia 17, Kisumu 17, Muranga 11, Nandi 11, Nyeri 8, Busia 8, Bomet 7, Uasin Gishu 5, Kericho 5, Kilifi 5, Nyamira 5, West Pokot 5, Garissa 3, Kirinyaga 3, Kisii 3, Lamu 3, Meru 3, Wajir 3, Nakuru 2, Embu 2, Kakamega 2, Kwale 2, Turkana 2, Marsabit 1, and Makueni 1.
On a positive note, the CAS said that 372 more patients have recovered from the disease; 315 from the Home based Care program. The rest 57 were discharged from various hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 13,867.
Unfortunately, Dr. Mwangangi noted that the country lost 15 patients from the disease, raising fatality to 438. Eleven of the fatalities had underlying condition and the youngest aged 31 and the oldest 77.
Nairobi’s 236 cases were from Westlands (31), Langata (28), Embakasi East (24), Dagoretti North (17), Makadara (17), Kibra (15), Embakasi South (14), Kamukunji (13), Embakasi Central (11), Embakasi West (11), Roysambu (10), Mathare (9), Dagoretti South (8), Ruaraka (8) Embakasi North (7), Kasarani (7) and Starehe (6)
By Wangari Ndirangu
