Kenya’s Covid-19 toll rises to 34,705 as 212 test positive

Kenya has recorded another 212 new Covid-19 cases from 3,937 samples tested in the past 24 hours, Health CAS Rashid Aman has announced.

Speaking in Homa Bay County Thursday afternoon, Dr Aman also said that another 195 patients had recovered from the disease during the same period. This now raises the total number of recoveries to 20,644.

At the same time, four more patients succumbed to the disease, raising the national death toll to 585.

Nairobi and Mombasa remain the main hot spots of the infections.

Dr Aman and acting Director-General of Health Patrick Amoth warned that that the infection rates may have not reached the peak between August and September as earlier projected.

They warned that any attempt to relax the measures put in place for controlling the spread of infections could spark an increase in the number of new cases which are currently on a downward trajectory.

“We need to exercise caution even as we continue to report a decrease in the number of infections. We had projected to have more infection rates at this time. We are seeing a decrease in infection because of the guidelines set by the government on reducing the infection rate,” the Health CAS said.

But Dr Aman said the government could consider relaxing the guidelines if the infection rate decreases for two weeks consecutively.

During the early stages of the outbreak of the pandemic, experts projected the peak in Kenya would be between August and September.

With increased testing capacity, Kenyans were warned to ensure they follow guidelines by the Ministry of Health to avoid being infected.

Dr Aman said the government had little information about how the virus spreads when some of the first cases were reported.

Slow down spread

Some of the measures the government has introduced to slow down the spread of the virus include a night curfew and limiting the number of people in social gatherings.

The Ministry of Health officials expressed optimism that cases will continue to decrease if Kenyans continue to obey the set guidelines.

Dr Amoth said the infection rate that is being reported is exactly as the government had projected.

“What we are seeing now is what we predicted. The hotspots and the infection rate are the same. We foresaw that the first case would come from the entry point and it happened,” he said.

With increased community transmission, Dr Amoth called for heightened surveillance and contact tracing.

He said there is a projection of a five per cent transmission rate within the next two weeks, signifying a decrease in the number of people contracting the virus.

Truck drivers

Meanwhile, the government is engaging Ugandan authorities in talks aimed at ending the stalemate at the Busia border where truck drivers are denied access to the neighbouring country if they do not have a covid-19 certificate.

Drivers complained of being detained at the border.

This is after Uganda introduced a new policy for crossing the border where all drivers are required to undergo a mandatory test.

Dr Aman said counties within the East African Community had agreed to permit entry using Covid-19 certificates from the two countries.

“This is a diplomatic matter that will be sorted out. No one deserves to have his cargo detained at the border,” he said.

Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti asked the government to elevate the county’s teaching and referral hospital from level four to level five.

He also asked the Ministry of Health to give his county the green light to conduct Covid-19 tests at its ISO certified laboratory.