COVID-19 cases in Kenya near 7000-mark as 268 more test positive

The COVID-19 cases in Kenya are now nearing the 7000-mark after 268 more people tested positive in the last 24 hours.

Health CAS Rashid Aman said the country now has a total of 6,941 cases of the new coronavirus.

“Out of this number 259 are Kenyans while 9 are foreigners, with 160 males, and 108 females. The youngest is a one year old while the oldest is 80,” he said during a Press briefing.

The number of samples tested in the last 24 hours was 2,704 bringing the cumulative sample size to 176,059.

Distribution in counties is as follows: Nairobi 175, Mombasa 28, Busia 18, Kiambu 11, Kajiado 9, Migori 9, Uasin Gishu 8, Machakos 6, Narok 2, Makueni 1 and Muranga 1.

COVID-19 cases in Nairobi were as follows:

• Dagoretti North 34
• Kibra 29
• Ruaraka 24
• Langata 21
• Embakasi East 12
• Westlands 11
• Makadara 10
• Starehe 7
• Kasarani 6
• Embakasi South and Embakasi West 5 each
• Embakasi Central 3
• Embakasi North, Kamukunji, Mathare and Roysambu 2 each

Mombasa, cases are in Kisauni (12); Mvita (6); Jomvu (4); Nyali (3); Changamwe (2) and Likoni (1).

Busia cases are in Teso South (12), Teso North (5) and Matayos 1 while Kiambu cases are in Kiambu Town (7); Ruiru (2); Juja and Thika (1 each).

The COVID-19 death-toll rose to 152 after three more patients succumb to the virus while 20 others were discharged bringing total number of recoveries to 2,109.

Dr. Aman reiterated that majority of those who have succumbed to COVID-19 had underlying disease conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

According to him, these are Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) whose burden to the health system is on the rise.

“Hypertension is the commonest cardiovascular condition globally and the same applies in Kenya. It is estimated that 1.13 billion people live with this condition worldwide representing 31% of adult population,” he said on Thursday.

The Health Ministry avers that in Kenya, about 6.1 million adult live with hypertension representing 24% of the adult population.

Further, a total of 67,465 hypertensive patients were seen and reported, according to the Kenya Health Information System January to March 2020 data from 21 reporting counties.