Kenya's Covid-19 positivity rate down to 9.7 per cent, ministry says
A banner outside Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi on March 5, 2021 notifies members of the public of free vaccination against Covid-19.
What you need to know:
- Of those hospitalised, 188 were under intensive care, 32 of them on ventilatory support, 120 on supplemental oxygen and 36 under observation.
Kenya’s Covid-19 positivity rate on Friday stood at 9.7 percent, the Ministry of Health reporting 497 new infections from a sample of 5,117 tested within a day.
This raised the country’s number of declared infections, since the first one in March 2020, to 159,318, and the number of samples analysed so far to 1,669,552.
The ministry also announced that 17 deaths had been reported in the last 24 hours, but explained that 13 occurred in the last one month while four were confirmed during the audit of facility records.
This raised the death toll to 2,724.
The number of recoveries rose by 441 to 108,565, CS Kagwe said, noting that the majority of the patients – 366 – were treated at home and 75 in hospital.
Of the new cases, Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said, 492 were Kenyans and five foreigners, 282 male and 215 female, the youngest six months old and the oldest 96.
Nairobi County accounted for 96 of the new infections, Nakuru 56, Trans Nzoia 45, Kericho 44, Mombasa 41, Kisumu 38, Kiambu 22, Kisii 20, Uasin Gishu 17, Embu 16 and Bomet and Meru 15 each.
Mandera followed with eight, Kajiado and Siaya seven each, Kitui six, Machakos and Murang’a five each, Homa Bay four, Makueni , Bungoma, Garissa and Kilifi three each, and Laikipia, Nyandarua, Narok, Nyeri, Kwale and West Pokok two cases each.
Busia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kakamega, Migori,Nandi and Nyamira each recorded just one new case.
By Friday, 1,311 had been admitted to health facilities countrywide while 6,650 were under home-based isolation and care.
Of those hospitalised, 188 were under intensive care, 32 of them on ventilatory support, 120 on supplemental oxygen and 36 under observation.
Another 137 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 130 of them in general wards and seven in high dependency units.
In terms of vaccination, CS Kagwe said 876,708 people had received the jab by Friday, among them 271,079 of those aged at least 58, 157,211 health workers, 135,957 teachers and 73,544 security officers.
