The Ministry of Health has said home-based treatment of asymptomatic Covid-19 patients will be 100 per cent effective.
Many Kenyans had expressed doubt over home care, fearing that another wave of community infections might arise.
Health director general Patrick Amoth said the government, with the help of the World Health Organization, had issued strict guidelines and protocols that, when followed, become functional.
“Majority of people, especially from sub-Saharan Africa, show no symptoms.That is why we customised WHO guidelines and developed very good criteria to be able to support home-based care,” he said.
He spoke on Saturday at Msambweni subcounty referral hospital during the daily national Covid-19 briefing in Kwale county.
Amoth said home-based care was applied during the outbreak of HIV/AIDS and it worked remarkably.
He said the method is less costly, safe and easily executable.
“Why should we spend over Sh21, 000 a day for an asymptomatic Covid-19 patient and 65 per cent of the expenses come from PPEs?” said Amoth.
He added that the situation at correctional centres had been maintained and the number of inmate infections had reduced.
The Health DG said isolation units had been established in various prisons to minimise movement in and out of health centres, saying it had worked well in stopping the spread of corona disease.
Amoth said most of the coronavirus cases originated from the informal settlements where practising infection control and prevention measures was a challenge.
He said border counties like Kajiado and Busia were likely to report large clusters but the government had put in place measures to mitigate the spread.
On Saturday, Kenya registered 278 new cases of Covid-19 raising the number of total infections to 9,726.
The Health DG said it was an individual’s responsibility to take precautions to help flatten the infection curve.
Edited by Henry Makori
