Kenya records 456 new Covid cases, positivity rate of 8.1pc

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe looks at a syringe produced at the Revital Healthcare Limited plant in Msumarini, Kilifi County, on April 29, 2021. 

Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Kenya on Tuesday rose by 456 to 176,137, following the analysis of 5,626 samples within a day.

The new infections resulted in a positivity rate of 8.1 per cent, the Health ministry said, adding that the country had conducted at least 1,876,105 tests since the pandemic struck in March 2020.

Of the new patients, 424 were Kenyans and 32 foreigners, 266 male and 190 female, the youngest a two-month-infant and the oldest 92 years.

Photo credit: Nation Media Group

Nairobi continued to lead in the number of new infections per county, with 116 new cases, and was followed by Kisumu with 66, Busia 42, Siaya 30, Mombasa 28, Kilifi 26, Homa Bay 22, Bomet and Kakamega 18 each, Nyamira 12, Nakuru 10, Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia nine each, and Kisii and Meru six each.

Kericho and Vihiga each recorded five new cases, Elgeyo Marakwet four, Kiambu three, Bungoma, Garissa, Turkana, Kajiado, Laikipia and Machakos two each, and Makueni, Murang’a, Nandi, Narok, Taita Taveta, Tharaka Nithi, Migori, Embu and Kirinyaga one each.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, in a statement to newsrooms, further reported seven new deaths, one having occurred in the 24 hours and six being late deaths reported after the audit of facility records in June. The death toll rose to 3,428.

CS Kagwe also announced that 535 more people had recovered from the disease, 439 of them under home-based isolation and care and 96 in hospital, raising the number of recoveries to 120,894.

Photo credit: Nation Media Group

As of Tuesday, 975 patients had been hospitalised countrywide while 4,716 were being treated at home.

Of those in hospital, 100 were in intensive care units (ICU), 29 of them on ventilator support, 59 on supplemental oxygen and 12 under observation.

Another 110 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 105 of them in general wards and five in high dependency units (HDU).

As of Tuesday, at least 989,422 people had received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Some  149,326 had received their second doses, the majority of them being health workers.

CS Kagwe said the uptake rate for the second dose was 15 per cent and that the proportion of fully vaccinated adults was less than one percent.