Kenya confirms four more coronavirus cases, raising country's total to 126

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has announced Kenya has confirmed four more coronavirus cases.

The four are three Kenyans and one Pakistani national.

This now brings the country's total number to 126 cases.  

"Two of the new cases travelled from Malawi and Pakistan while the other two contracted the virus locally," Kagwe said.

Their ages range from 34 and 44 years. Three of them are male while one is female.

The CS confirmed a total of 1,781 contacts are being monitored.

During his daily briefing on the status of the coronavirus at Afya House on Saturday, Kagwe also sent his condolences to Kenya Airways pilot Captain Daudi Kibati who passed away this week due to the coronavirus.

"Captain Kibati together with his colleagues managed to evacuate many Kenyans from the US, he made the final sacrifice," Kagwe said.

The CS announced new measures to curb the Covid-19 spread urging any person visiting a supermarket or any other open-air markets to begin wearing a mask immediately.

The CS said the Ministry of Health has operationalised the Kenyatta University Hospital and already 20 Covid-19 patients have been admitted. 

He announced the country's laboratories, particularly Kemri, are already involved in serious research that would see Kenya manufacturer testing kits locally.

On Friday, the number stood at 122 cases after Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi announced 12 more Covid-19 cases.

The latest death was that of a 6-year-old boy who died at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

Mwangangi said the boy had a pre-existing bone marrow condition, which suppresses the immune system and worsened with Covid-19.

Industrialisation CS Betty Maina on Friday said more than one million masks had already been manufactured to curb the spread of Covid-19 and were at various levels of the distribution channel.

According to the government, persons in compulsory quarantine facilities where positive tests for Covid-19 were detected will spend another 14 days at the said premises.

The Health ministry communicated the extension in a Friday memo to heads of directorates and those in charge of the quarantine sites.

Health Director General Patrick Amoth said they have observed that those quarantined in the said sites had close contacts and interactions with some of those who tested positive for the virus.