Kenya's Covid cases near 246,000, positivity rate down to 5.9pc
A local artist makes face masks from cloth and sells them in Kibera slum, Nairobi County, on April 14, 2020.
Kenya on Friday recorded 444 new Covid-19 infections from a sample of 7,511 tested in the last 24 hours, raising its number of confirmed cases to 245,781.
The positivity rate stood at 5.9 per cent, down from the 6.4 per cent recorded on Thursday, while the number of tests conducted so far rose to 2,486,331
Of the new patients, 430 were Kenyans and 14 foreigners, 214 male and 202 female, the youngest three weeks old and the oldest 90 years.
Nairobi County accounted for 138 of the new infections, Nakuru 36, Meru 34, Kiambu 28, Uasin Gishu 27, Nyandarua 22, Embu 16, Makueni 11, and Kirinyaga and Tharaka Nithi 10 each.
Machakos and Kajiado counties followed with nine new cases each and then came Kitui, Murang’a and Nyeri with eight each, Baringo seven, Kericho, Elgeyo Marakwet and Garissa six each, Marsabit five, Kakamega, Kisii, Wajir, Laikipia and Nandi four each, Narok, Kisumu and Isiolo three, Siaya and Mombasa two each, and West Pokot, Kilifi, Mandera, Trans Nzoia, Nyamira, Homa Bay and Busia one each.
Four more deaths
In a statement to media houses, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced four more deaths, one over the past 24 hours and three late reports from the audit of facility records in September, raising the toll to 4,965.
CS Kagwe also said another 700 patients had recovered from the disease, 321 of them at home and 379 in hospital, raising the number to 236,169.
As of Friday, 1,472 patients had been hospitalised with Covid-19 countrywide while 3,309 were being treated at home.
Of the admitted patients, 119 were under intensive care, 86 of them on ventilator support, 27 on supplemental oxygen and six under observation.
Another 543 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 505 of them in general wards and 38 in high dependency units.
According to CS Kagwe, a total of 3,290,450 vaccines doses have been administered across the country so far - 2,439,528 first doses and 850,922 second doses.
The uptake rate of the second dose on Friday stood at 35 per cent, with the majority of the recipients being male (55 per cent), while the proportion of adults fully vaccinated was 3.1 per cent.
Africa summary
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 8,119,719 as of Friday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the African Union, in its continental Covid-19 dashboard indicated that the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stands at 205,813.
Some 7,433,077 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far, it was noted.
South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the agency.
In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.
