Kenya records 618 new Covid cases, death toll of 3,800
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe addresses journalists at Meru Teaching and Referral Hospital after launching the facility's ICU, oxygen plant, blood transfusion centre and renal unit on July 2, 2021.
What you need to know:
- The CS said that as of Monday, 1,222 patients had been admitted to health facilities countywide while 4,339 were being treated at home.
Kenya on Tuesday recorded 618 new Covid-19 cases, out of 5,507 samples tested in the past 24 hours, raising the number of declared infections since last March to 193,807.
The country’s positivity rate was therefore 11.2 percent while the number of tests carried out since the first one last year was 2,064,700.
The positivity rose from the 8.2 percent recorded on Monday.
Of the new patients, 580 were Kenyans and 38 foreigners, 333 female and 285 male, the youngest six months old and the oldest 103.
In terms of case distribution by county, Nairobi accounted for Nairobi accounted for 272, Mombasa 52, Kiambu 41, Nakuru 30, Uasin Gishu 24, Migori 23, Busia 19, Nandi 17, Kirinyaga 12, Kilifi 11, and Kitui and Murang’a 10 each.
Kajiado followed with nine, Kericho, Kisumu, Machakos and Siaya eight each, Vihiga and Garissa seven each, Taita Taveta and Turkana six each, Homa Bay five, Nyandarua, Meru and Embu three each, Bungoma, Kakamega, Kisii, Nyamira and Nyeri two each, and Bomet, Laikipia and Makueni one each.
In a statement, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said 17 more deaths raised the country’s toll to 3,800, but explained that they were all late reports confirmed after the audit of facility records in November 2020 and March.
The ministry further reported 290 more recoveries, 261 of them in hospitals across the country and 29 at home, raising the total to 183,211.
Active cases
The CS said that as of Tuesday, 1,222 patients had been admitted to health facilities countywide while 4,339 were being treated at home.
The number of those in intensive care units was 129, with 35 of the patients on ventilator support, 75 on supplemental oxygen and 29 under observation.
Another 273 patients were separately on supplementary oxygen, 241 of them in general wards and 32 in high dependency units.
As of Tuesday, 1,635,411 vaccines doses had been administered across the country, 1,040,317 being first doses and 595,124 second doses.
CS Kagwe said the uptake rate of the second dose had risen to 57.2 percent, the majority of the recipients being male (55 percent).
The proportion of fully vaccinated adults was 2.2 percent, he said.
Among those who had received their second doses were 185,693 people aged 58 years and above, 107,550 health workers, 84,147 teachers, 47,218security officers and 185,693 ungrouped individuals.
Africa summary
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 6,267,776 as of Tuesday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic stood at 158,697 across the continent.
Some 5,477,934 Covid-19 patients across the continent had recovered from the disease, it was noted.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Egypt were the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.
In terms of the caseload, southern Africa was the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa was the least affected region in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.
