Kenya's Covid-19 death toll rises by 14 to 1,545
Health Chief Administration Mercy Mwangangi gives an update on the Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya, at Afya House in Nairobi, on September 14, 2020.
Kenya now has 89,100 confirmed Covid-19 cases, the Health ministry said Tuesday, following the testing of 4,721 samples in the last 24 hours.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Mercy Mwangangi also told a press conference at Afya House in Nairobi that 14 more patients had died, raising the death toll to 1,545.
Dr Mwangangi further reported 425 more recoveries, 330 of them in the home-based care programme and 95 in hospitals countrywide, raising the total to 69,839.
She said that as of Tuesday, 1,102 patients had been hospitalised countrywide while 8,016 were being treated at home.
In terms of case distribution, Nairobi led with 191 cases, followed by Kilifi with 93, Kiambu 32, Busia 28, Uasin Gishu 22, Nakuru 19, Mombasa 17, and Nyeri and Kajiado 14 each.
Bungoma County followed with 13 cases and then came Kirinyaga and Tana River with 11 each, Kericho nine, Kisumu and Trans Nzoia six each, Makueni and Embu five each, Laikipia and Kitui four each, Nandi three, Siaya, Murang'a, Kakamega and Isiolo two each, and Machakos, Tharaka Nithi, Taita Taveta, Bomet, Nyandarua and Kwale one each.
All but 17 of the new patients were foreigners while 315 were male, 206 female, the youngest three years old and the oldest 90
Doctors' plight
The ministry said it has taken note of concerns raised by health workers, following the death of yet another doctor, 28-year-old Stephen Mogusu, who succumbed to Covid-19 complications on Monday.
CAS Mwangangi said the dialogue continues and that issues such as payment of outstanding salaries will be prioritised.
Regarding personal protective equipment, she said counties have been advised to obtain them locally at prevailing market rates.
While thanking the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) for suspending its strike until December 21, to allow negotiations with the government, she asked other unions to follow suit.
"A pandemic such as the one we are in is equal to a war and health workers are the frontline soldiers on the ground," Dr Mwangangi noted.
"This is not the time to deny our people much-needed medical attention, as doing so would be tantamount to leaving them open to an attack by the enemy."
