The country has recorded the highest number of Covid 19 cases in a day after 123 people were confirmed to have been infected with highly contagious viral disease..
In the last 24 hours, out of 3077 samples tested, 123 people have today tested positive for Corona Virus a staggering triple digit figure ever to be recorded in the country since the pandemic was confirmed on the 13th of March this year.
The cumulative figure of those who are positive now stands at 1,471 from a total of 67,341 samples so far tested.
Giving the Covid 19 update at Afya House today, Health Cabinet Secretary , Mutahi Kagwe said Nariboi has the leading with 85 , followed by Mombasa which recorded 24, Kiambu, 4.
Other counties are Kajiado with 3 and Kisumu 2 cases. Garissa, Kitui, Kilifi, Busia and Uasin Gishu Counties have a case each.
The CS added that the age distribution has the youngest at 1-year-old, while the oldest is 76 years, 78 are male, 45 are female .
“We are glad to inform you that we have discharged 3 more patients, bringing the number of recoveries to 408, but unfortunately we have also lost three 3 more patients to the virus, bringing the number of fatalities to 55”, he said.
The CS explained that the three who died all had underlying comorbidities one had diabetes, the second had diabetes and hypertension while the third one had cancer of the breast.
The spread of the cases by sub-counties is as is that in Nairobi, Mathare has 33 cases followed by , Kibra, 14, Embakasi West 12, Embakasi Central 4, Westlands 4, Makadara 3, Ruaraka 3, Kamkunji 3, Starehe 2, Dagoretti North 2, Roysambu 1, Langata 1, Embakasi North 1 and Embakasi South1.
In Mombasa, the cases are in; Mvita which has 9 cases, Changamwe 4, Kisauni 4, Jomvu 3, Likoni 3, Nyali 1.
In Kiambu, the cases are 1 each in Kabete, Kikuyu, Ruiru and Juja while cases in Kajiado are 2 cases in Namanga and one case in Kitengela, while the two cases in Kisumu are from quarantine facility and are imports from Nairobi of persons who travelled to Kisumu for a burial.
Today, CS Kagwe said that there are 590 Covid-19 positive patients admitted in 35 various hospitals across the country and out of 7 are in critical condition, with 4 on ventilatory support and 3 on supplemental oxygen.
“The figures which we have shared today illustrate the rapid rate of transmission in the informal settlements in Nairobi and this means that there is a raging number of infections in these areas”, he said.
He therefore appealed to the public transportation owners, drivers and riders to still maintain measures given by the government since some of the highest infections come from areas where public transport is the primary means of transportation.
The CS said that they will be visiting new counties on a weekly basis as a means of evaluating the national preparedness levels, because collectively, counties have a greater capacity to attend to the sick and their preparedness is key.
“We don’t want to get to a point where we find ourselves unable to cope with an overwhelming number of critically ill patients. Should this trend be the case and we are overwhelmed, we will only have the two options we’ve seen globally, cooperate and survive, or ignore the directives and suffer”, CS Kagwe said.
The government has since last week been doing targeted mass testing in some of the hotspot areas that include Nairobi, Mombasa, Kajiado, Kwale and Migori Counties among others in order to determine the extent of infection within our communities and the outcome of the results has demonstrated that the virus has spread extensively in our communities.
By Wangari Ndirangu
