Kenya reports 197 recoveries, 29 deaths as virus cases hit 607

Twenty five more people have tested positive for Covid-19, raising Kenya’s total number of confirmed cases to 607, since the first one was reported on March 13.

The Health ministry, in its daily briefing on Thursday, said Nairobi accounted for 17 of the new cases, Kajiado and Wajir two each and Migori, Isiolo, Mombasa and Nakuru one each.

Isiolo’s case was the first, raising the total number of affected counties to 18, following the testing of 1,075 samples in the last 24 hours.

The patients were between eight and 73 years old, whereas 21 were male and four female.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman also announced that seven more patients had been discharged, raising the total number of recoveries to 197.

He also said three more patients have died, two in Nairobi and one in Mombasa, raising the death toll in Kenya to 29.

CAS Aman said that of the 25 cases, Nairobi accounted for 17, nine of them being in Eastleigh, two each in Kawangware and Parklands and one each in Riruta, South C, Umoja and Juja Road.

The case in Nakuru was recorded in Solai.

On Wednesday, the government banned movement into and out of Eastleigh and Old Town Mombasa after they emerged as hotspots.

In an appeal for adherence to anti-virus rules, CAS Aman said, “It’s been noted that people in Eastleigh and Old Town are sneaking out. Note that you may unknowingly be transferring the virus to other places within Mombasa and Nairobi as you may be a carrier without knowing.”

In Old Town on Thursday, five people who had tested positive for the disease disappeared from their homes together with their families.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho said a search was launched.

Meanwhile, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa was 52,989 while the number of active cases was 32,546, according to case tracker Worldometer’s count on May 7.

The continent had 2,018 deaths and 18,425 recoveries.

Since the first case of the virus was reported in Wuhan, China, on December 31, 2019, it had infected at least 3,836,819 people worldwide by May 7.

The total number of deaths worldwide was 265,366 and that of recoveries at 1,308,201.

The number of active cases stood at 2,263,252, with two per cent or 48,073 of them being critical and the rest mild.

Worldometer’s count showed that the number of closed cases or cases with an outcome was 1,573,567, with 83 per cent or 1,308,201 being the number of recoveries or those discharged.