Health Cabinet Secretary Hon Mutahi Kagwe has confirmed that the country registered 7 new positive cases for coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections to 38.
Speaking at Afya House during a press briefing on Saturday, Hon Kagwe said the new COVID-19 infections were part of 81 suspected cases tested at various laboratories in the country within the past 24 hours.
The 7 new cases, all of which he said were recorded in Nairobi County, include three females and 4 males. They are composed of 4 Kenyans, 2 Congolese nationals and 1 Chinese national.
CS Kagwe also said 4 of them had a history of travel from countries with active transmissions of the disease while one had been to Mombasa and the other two are contacts of previous cases.
The CS also revealed that two patients have since tested negative and are set to undergo another test for confirmation that they are fully healed.
“Our first patient together with the third patient have tested negative in their first re-testing. A repeat test is scheduled in the next 48 hours; we remain hopeful that the repeat test will be negative, confirming full recovery to allow for their discharge from our treatment centre,” he said.
“All the 7 cases are from Nairobi County…this now puts Nairobi County as leading with 28 cases of those who have so far turned positive; Kilifi has 6, Mombasa has 2, while Kajiado and Kwale have one each.”
There are fears that the cases will rise especially given the past contacts of the Kilifi Deputy Governor and also the priest from Rome, Italy who conducted a funeral ceremony in Siaya and also interacted with parishioners in Siaya and Utawala.
COVID 19 is deadly especially to the elderly and those with per-existing conditions like Obesity, diabetes, cancer, HIV and high blood pressure. Kenya has a very number of young adults on ARVs especially in rural counties and therefore tight control to check the spread to the villages is critical.
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