Kenya's Covid-19 cases hit 203,680, positivity rate down to 9pc

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe briefs the media at Harambee House in Nairobi on Kenya's Covid-19 containment measures.


Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • As of Sunday, 1,475 patients had been admitted to health facilities countrywide while 3,987 were in the home-based care programme.

Kenya on Sunday reported 467 more Covid-19 cases from a sample of 5,217 tested in the last 24 hours, raising the number of confirmed cases to 203,680.

The positivity rate dropped to nine percent, from the 15.6 percent reported on Saturday, while the number of tests conducted so far rose to 2,137,572.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the youngest new patient was two months old and the oldest 90 years and that 454 of the new patients were Kenyans and 13 foreigners, 242 male and 225 female.

Nairobi County accounted for 216 of the new cases and was followed by Kiambu with 49, Mombasa 43, Murang’a 19, Machakos 17, Kilifi, Nakuru and Kitui 16 each, Kirinyaga 14, Kajiado 10 and Nyeri nine.

The came Busia, Kericho and Taita Taveta with five each, Kakamega and Uasin Gishu four each, Homa Bay, Makueni and Vihiga three each, Embu and Garissa two each, and Meru, Narok, Siaya, Turkana, Baringo and Bungoma one each.

15 more deaths

In a statement to newsrooms, the ministry further announced the deaths of 15 more Covid-19 patients, raising the toll to 3,946, but noted that they were all late death reports confirmed after the audit of facility records in May and July.

CS Kagwe also announced that 195 patients had recovered from the disease, 125 at home and 70 in hospital, raising the total to 189,131.

As of Sunday, 1,475 patients had been admitted to health facilities countrywide while 3,987 were in the home-based care programme.

Of the patients in hospital, 186 were under intensive care, 46 of them on ventilator support, 84 on supplemental oxygen and 56 under observation.

Another 445 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 399 of them in general wards and 46 in high dependency units.

As of Sunday 1,726,193 vaccine doses had been administered across the country -  1,064,104 first doses and 662,089 second doses.

The uptake rate of the second dose was 62.2 per cent, with the recipients listed as 204,696 people aged 58 years and above, 115,623 health workers, 95,996 teachers, 52,853 security officers and 192,921 ungrouped individuals.

The proportion of fully vaccinated adults was 2.4 percent.

Africa summary

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 6,678,949 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 169,280 while 5,845,926 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.

South Africa had recorded the most Covid-19 cases in Africa with 2,435,036 cases, while the northern African country Morocco reported 615,999 cases as of Saturday afternoon.