Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned Kenyans against laxity in COVID-19 measures, saying the lethal spike in deaths is attributed to negligence.
Currently, Kenya’s death toll stands at 1,027 after 14 more people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours. Death toll in the past week alone, Kagwe said, topped at 100.
He continued to urge Kenyans not to let the guard down against COVID-19, while noting an increase in deaths.
“It is the citizens’ responsibility to combat the disease. We cannot afford to have over 100 deaths in a week. There is a need to re-look on measures to contain the virus.” He added.
From the tests, Kenya’s positivity rate is 14%. The country recorded 724 more Covid-19 positive cases, pushing the country’s total caseload to 56,601.
CS Kagwe disclosed that the youngest case is a 1-year-old baby, while the oldest is aged 84 years.
248 patients were discharged; 178 from the home-based care program, and 70 from hospitals around the country. Total recoveries now stand at 37,442.
While explaining the status of hospitalised patients, CS Kagwe noted that 54 patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 26 of them are on ventilatory support and 28 on supplementary oxygen.
Another 55 are separately on supplementary oxygen, out of whom 45 are in general wards while 10 are in High Dependency Unit (HDU)
Kagwe trashed reports that hospitals within the country were overwhelmed by the second wave of the pandemic.
“We are not overwhelmed in regard to bed capacity as reported in the press. 1297 patients admitted. Inter-County transfer of covid-19 patients will not be allowed,” he asserted.
Kagwe extended his march to call for stringent measures, saying the move will curb the rapid spread of the coronavirus in the country.
