COVID-19 cases in Kenya rise to 11,673 as 421 more patients test positive; 8 dead

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe on Thursday announced that COVID-19 infections in the country rose to 11,673 after 421 more patients tested positive for the disease.

CS Kagwe, speaking in Nakuru County where he launched the Primary Healthcare Strategic Framework and the Community Health Policy, said 3,895 tests were conducted within the last 24 hours taking the total number of tests carried out so far to 230,096.

409 out of the 421 new patients are Kenyans while the remaining 12 are foreign nationals composed of 297 males and 124 female aged between one to 83 years old.

CS Kagwe also stated that 512 patients recovered from the disease while on home-based care within the last 24 hours while another 58 were discharged from various health facilities; hence the total number of recoveries now stands at 3,638.

Eight more patients however lost their lives to the disease, taking the number of fatalities to 217.

The CS said 42 out of the 47 counties have now all recorded a coronavirus infection, with Nairobi still leading at 6,491 cases followed by Mombasa (1,783), Kiambu (640) and Nakuru coming at a distant ninth with only 155 cases presently.

CS Kagwe reiterated the government’s call for personal responsibility saying, “The serious culprits of not wearing masks are men, the average female walking around this country has a mask on.”

“The release of people to go wherever they want was not because we did not expect the number of cases to go up; the president decided to do that because we believe that Kenyans have attained a level of care and understanding for this disease so that it is no longer necessary for the government to follow everybody around.”

He added: “We, as the Ministry of Health, continue to insist that you stay alive. Don’t die. And the only way that you don’t die is if you follow the protocols. Freedom comes with responsibility.”

CS Kagwe further commended the Nakuru County government for surpassing the 300-bed capacity requirement as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and for aiming at hitting 1,000 beds within the next 4-5 weeks.