Amoth: No community spread of Indian Covid variant

The Indian Covid-19 variant which was first detected in five Indians working at a fertiliser plant in Kisumu has not spread to the community, Ministry of Health Acting Director-General Patrick Amoth has said.

Speaking on Wednesday, Dr Amoth said that Genomic sequencing showed no community spread of the variant, adding that that 20 cases of the Indian variant have so far been reported in the country.

He said 15 out of 18 travellers who jetted into the country hours before flights to and from India were stopped had the Covid-19 variant.

New infections

At the same time, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Kenya has risen to 164,386 following the reporting of 410 new infections in the past 24 hours.

With the new infections, the country’s positivity rate stands at 10.8 per cent, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said during the Wednesday briefing.

The new cases were from a sample size of 3,799 tested over 24 hours, bringing the cumulative tests conducted so far to 1,729,345.

Of the new infections, 393 are Kenyans while 17 are foreigners. Male patients were 404 while 301 were female. The youngest is a five-month-old infant while the oldest patient is 100 years old.

Wednesday’s number were distributed in counties as follows: Nairobi 76, Kericho 51, Meru 40, Kisumu 36, Mombasa 27, Uasin Gishu 25, Kisii 19, Siaya and Migori 18 cases each, Nakuru 12, Kirinyaga 11, Kilifi 8, Kitui, Kiambu and Homa Bay 7 cases each, Nyamira 6, Vihiga and Marsabit 5 cases each, Murang’a 4, Garissa, Machakos, Nandi and Nyeri 3 cases each, Kajiado, Laikipia, Nyandarua and Turkana 2 cases each, Bomet, Makueni, Mandera, Kakamega, Baringo, Taita Taveta, Trans Nzoia and Narok 1 case each.

Recoveries

The number of recoveries has increased to 113,124 after 67 were declared free of the virus in the last 24 hours.

Of those who recovered, 57 were from health facilities countrywide while 10 were from home-based and isolation care.

The ministry also reported 22 deaths over the same period, with 18 having occurred on diverse dates within the last one month and four being late deaths reported after conducting facility record audits. This now pushes Kenya’s cumulative fatalities to 2,950.

A total of 1,049 patients are currently admitted to various health facilities countrywide, while 4,823 patients are on home-based isolation and care.

There are currently 119 patients in the ICU, 22 of whom are on ventilatory support and 74 on supplemental oxygen. Another 23 patients are on observation.

Another 91 patients were separately on supplementary oxygen, 86 of them in general wards and five in high dependency units.