Kenya's Covid-19 death toll rises by 21 as cases exceed 145,000
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe briefs the media at Afya House in Nairobi on an oxygen shortage in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, March 29, 2021.
What you need to know:
- CS Kagwe also announced the recovery of 422 more patients , 105 of them in hospital and 317 under home-based isolation and care, raising the total to 98,605.
Kenya's Health ministry on Saturday announced 21 more deaths due to Covid-19, which raised the toll to 2,330.
Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe explained, however, that five of them occurred in the last one month while 16 were late reports found during the audit of facility records.
Over the last few weeks, the country's Covid-19 death toll has increased by more than 10 almost daily, following the audit.
In a statement, CS Kagwe said further announced 1,030 new infections, out of a sample of 8,316 analysed in the last 24 hours, raising the country’s number of confirmed infections since the first one in March 2020 to 145,184. This resulted in a positivity rate of about 12.4 per cent, the ministry said.
Thus far, Kenya has tested 1,557,704 samples for the disease first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
Of the new patients, 995 were Kenyans and 35 foreigners, 532 male and 498 female, the youngest 10 months old and the oldest 99.
In terms of case distribution by county, Nairobi remained in the lead with 401 new infections and was followed by Nakuru with 68, Kiambu 64, Kakamega 53, Machakos and Mombasa 51 each, Uasin Gishu 44, Nyeri 35, Kitui 26, Kajiado and Kilifi 24 each, and Busia and Siaya 19 each.
Nandi and Trans Nzoia followed with 17 cases each, Kisumu 16, Nyandarua 15, Kirinyaga 11, Laikipia nine, Kericho eight, Bungoma, Mandera and Turkana seven each, Marsabit six, Vihiga five, Homa Bay and Murang’a four each, Taita Taveta and Tharaka Nithi three each, Baringo, Embu, Meru and Narok each, and Kisii, Kwale, Migori and Samburu one each.
CS Kagwe also announced the recovery of 422 more patients , 105 of them in hospital and 317 under home-based isolation and care, raising the total to 98,605.
As of Saturday, 1,616 patients had been hospitalised, 247of them under intensive care. Of those in ICU, 46 were on ventilatory support, 170 on supplemental oxygen and 31 under observation.
Another 259 patients were separately on supplemental oxygen, 246 of them in general wards and 13 in high dependency units, with no change from the report on Friday.
The number of patients in the home-based care programme stood at 4,233.
