Covid-19: Kenya cases shoot to 17,603 with record 960 infections
What you need to know:
- The ministry said 169 more patients had discharged, 83 from hospitals and 86 from home-based care programmes, raising the total number of recoveries to 7,743.
- Globally, according to Covid-19 case tracker Wordometer, the number of coronavirus cases was 16,256,472 as of July 26. Deaths numbers 649,354 and the recoveries 9,949,306.
- The capital city has remained a top hotspot, recording hundreds of cases since the July 6 presidential directive that lifted the cessation of movement order that had locked down hotspot counties.
Kenya on Sunday reported a record high of 960 cases of Covid-19 following the testing of 8,261 samples in the last 24 hours.
This pushed the county past the 17,000 mark - to 17,603 - with the number of cases recorded daily increasing drastically.
The ministry said 169 more patients had discharged, 83 from hospitals and 86 from home-based care programmes, raising the total number of recoveries to 7,743.
It also announced that two more patients had died, placing the death toll at 280.
Globally, according to Covid-19 case tracker Wordometer, the number of coronavirus cases was 16,256,472 as of July 26. Deaths numbers 649,354 and the recoveries 9,949,306.
Only one per cent, or 66,240, of the cases were critical.
CASE DISTRIBUTION
Of the new cases, the youngest was a year old and the oldest 88.
Four of them had a history of travel, two from Tanzania, one from Rwanda and another one from Uganda.
Kenyans numbers 952, Britons two and Somalis two, while the other four were Tanzanian, Ethiopian, Indian and Chinese by nationality.
The ministry, led by Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, further reported that Tana River, Trans Nzoia and Kisii had only one new case each, the lowest among counties with new cases.
Bungoma, Kakamega, Nyeri and Taita Taveta had two cases each and were followed by Embu with three, Makueni, Murang'a and Laikipia with five each, Kericho with seven and Bomet with eight.
Turkana recorded nine cases, Narok 10, Nakuru 12, Kisumu 14, Uasin Gishu 15, Garissa 17, Busia 21, Mombasa 48 and Machakos 58.
The counties with at least 100 cases were Kiambu (100), Kajiado (102) and Nairobi (510).
The 8,261 samples raised the number tested in the country to 276,415.
HOTSPOT
The capital city has remained top among the hotspots, recording hundreds of cases since the July 6 presidential directive that lifted the cessation of movement order.
President Kenyatta acknowledged the risk in reopening Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera.
"We must, therefore, exercise cautious optimism, and avoid reckless abandon," he said at the time, but added that stricter measures would be imposed if reports became more worrying.
Following the surge in the number of infections in Kenya, President Kenyatta has called a national and county governments' summit on Covid-19.
He had scheduled the meeting for July 24 but postponed it to July 27. State House spokesperson Kanze Dena Mararo did not explain why in a statement with the announcement.
The Fifth Extraordinary Session of the National and County Governments Coordinating Summit will review virus containment measures and the impact of the phased easing of restrictions earlier put in place.
UPDATE: The ministry clarified on July 28 that the number of infections was 892, not 960, meaning the caseload as of July 26 was 17,535.
CS Kagwe and acting Health Services Director-General Patrick Amoth explained that the error was due to double entries.
