Covid-19: Kenya records 661 new cases, 32 more deaths
A health worker writes on a sample of a specimen bottle while a resident of Eastleigh, Nairobi, waits to be tested for the coronavirus during a mass testing exercise on May 20, 2020.
The number of Covid-19 cases in Kenya on Friday increased by 661, from a sample of 8,141 tested in the last 24 hours, to 242,945.
The positivity rate rose from the 7.3 percent recorded on Thursday to 8.1 percent.
Of the new patients, 640 were Kenyans and 21 foreigners, 332 male and 329 female, the youngest 11 days old and the oldest 102 years.
Kenya has conducted 2,444,357 tests since confirming its first case of the disease on March 13, 2020.
Nairobi County accounted for 209 of the new infections, Kiambu 80, Kitui 50, Nakuru 48, Nyandarua 27, Nyeri 26, Garissa 21, Kericho 19, Machakos 15, Baringo, Murang’a 12, Taita Taveta 12 and Kajiado 12 each, Makueni 11, Tharaka Nithi 10, Meru, Embu and Turkana nine eac,
Bungoma and Laikipia eight each, Mombasa, Uasin Gishu and Narok seven each, Busia five, Kakamega and Lamu four each, Kisii, Tana River, Kisumu 3 and Marsabit three each, Siaya and Elgeyo Marakwet two each, and West Pokot, Homa Bay, Mandera and Migori one each
32 more deaths
Health Cabinet Secreatary Mutahi Kagwe further announced 32 more deaths in Kenya, all of them late reports from the audit of facility records in August and September, raising the toll to 4,896.
CS Kagwe also reported that another 533 patients had recovered from the disease, 416 of them at home and 117 in hospital, raising the total to 230,940.
As of Friday, 1,723 patients had been hospitalised countrywide while 4,725 were under the home-based isolation and care programme.
Of those in hospital, 174 were under intensive care, 118 of them on ventilator support, 40 on supplemental oxygen and 16 under observation.
Another 655 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 595 of them in general wards and 60 in high dependency units.
The CS said 3,031,728 vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far- 2,208,468 first doses and 823,260 second doses.
The uptake rate of the second dose stood at 37.3 per cent, with the majority of the recipients being male (456,864, 55 percent).
The proportion of adults fully vaccinated was 3.02 percent.
Africa summary
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 7,990,337 as of Friday morning, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Africa CDC, the specialised healthcare agency of the African Union, said the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stands at 201,971.
Some 7,241,169 patients in Africa have recovered from the disease, 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.
As of Friday noon, South Africa has recorded the most Covid-19 cases in Africa, with 2,843,042 cases, followed by Morocco, 896,913 cases.
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, according to the Africa CDC.
