Kenya reports 1,205 new Covid cases, death toll of 4,117

Mutahi Kagwe

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe briefs the media on the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya during a press conference at Afya House, Nairobi, on August 5, 2021.

Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group

Kenya on Saturday reported 1,205 more Covid-19 cases from a sample of 8,158 tested in the last 24 hours, raising the number of confirmed cases to 211,028.

The positivity rate stood at 14.8 percent while the number of tests conducted so far rose to 2,184,276.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the youngest new patient was six months old and the oldest 100 years and that 1,175 of the new patients were Kenyans and 30 foreigners, 622 male and 583 female.

Nairobi County accounted for 453 of the new infections, Kiambu 92, Nyeri 77, Nakuru 70, Murang'a 55, Kajiado 44, Uasin Gishu and Machakos 38 each, Nyandarua 32, Makueni 30, Garissa 28, Kirinyaga 27, Baringo 26, Kilifi 25, Mombasa 24 and Kitu 20.

Busia County followed with 16 cases, Embu and Meru 14 each, Migori 10, Siaya and Kericho nine each, Narok seven, Nandi six, Nyamira, Lamu, Kakamega and Taita Taveta five each, Laikipia and Homa Bay four each, Kisii three, Kisumu two and Kwale, Mandera, Trans Nzoia, Wajir, Bomet, Bungoma, Elgeyo Marakwet and Isiolo one each.

29 more deaths

In a statement to newsrooms, the ministry further announced the deaths of 29 more Covid-19 patients, raising the toll to 4,117, but noted that they were all late death reports confirmed after the audit of facility records from April to August.

CS Kagwe also announced that 1,242 patients had recovered from the disease, 1,069 at home and 173 in hospital, raising the total to 197,029.

As of Saturday, 1,650 patients had been admitted to health facilities countrywide while 7,771 were in the home-based care programme.

Of the patients in hospital, 109 were under intensive care, 46 of them on ventilator support, 56 on supplemental oxygen and seven under observation.

Another 568 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 533 of them in general wards and 39 in high dependency units.

As of Saturday 1,793,520 vaccine doses had been administered across the country -  1,097,830 first doses and 695,690 second doses.

The uptake rate of the second dose was 63.4 per cent, with the recipients listed as 214,059 people aged 58 years and above, 119,820 health workers, 101.577 teachers, 55,843 security officers and 204,391 ungrouped individuals.

The proportion of fully vaccinated adults was 2.6 percent.

Africa summary

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 6,964,194 as of Saturday afternoon, 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 stood at 175,878 while 6,082,655 patients across the continent had recovered from the disease.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia were the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.

In terms of the caseload, southern Africa was the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa was the least affected region in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.