• Kibera has recorded a total of 49 positive cases in 48 hours; 14 on Wednesday and 35 on Thursday.
• Lang’ata which borders Kibera recorded 15 new cases on Thursday.
Image: / MERCY MUMO
Slum residents, especially in Nairobi, have been asked to be extra vigilant to stop the rising infection numbers in the areas.
Kibera has recorded 49 positive cases in 48 hours. Fourteen were reported on Wednesday and 35 on Thursday.
Lang’ata which borders Kibera recorded 15 new virus cases on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Mathare recorded 33 cases out of the 85 reported in Nairobi. On Thursday, one more case came from the slum.
The Health ministry on Wednesday raised concerns that the slum areas have an established community transmission pattern as seen in the high Covid-19 cases.
The number of Covid-19 patients has grown exponentially. Thursday's 147 cases — all Kenyans — was the highest figure ever in a single day. The total cases confirmed in the country by Thursday was 1,618.
The number came from 2,831 samples tested. The country has now tested 70,172 samples.
Acting director general of health Patrick Amoth said 54 of the total confirmed cases are health workers.
This represents 3.5 per cent of the total infection reported so far. None has died.
“Health workers being the first line of defence by the nature of their work are usually exposed to the infection. All the health workers who have tested positive and those in isolation and various treatment centres are doing well,” Amoth said.
Despite the tests conducted being less than the 3,077 samples tested on Wednesday, the number of positive cases was even higher.
The ministry has urged Kenyans to exercise individual cooperation and responsibility to ensure the transmission of the coronavirus is reduced.
“This is not a disease that can be defeated by any government, this is a disease that can only be defeated by the collaboration of all of us together,” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said during the Thursday briefing.
He added: “As we look forward to engaging more and opening some sectors of our economy, I would like to say that the job of ensuring that transmission is reduced will be passed to individuals.”
The CS encouraged those who feel unwell to visit health facilities. No Kenyan should die at home due to fear, he said.
“Do not let somebody who looks sick stay at home because somebody who dies at home with Covid-19 then can infect a lot of other people and this disease is not a joke,” Kagwe said.
Thirteen more people were discharged from hospital. Some 421 patients have recovered.
The 147 new cases are aged between one year and 87 years, comprising of 87 men and 80 women.
Ninety are from Nairobi while 41 are from Mombasa. Kiambu and Busia recorded three cases.
Nyeri, Uasin Gishu and Kajiado had two cases each while Kilifi, Embu, Homa Bay, Murang’a and Machakos recorded one case each.
Three more patients, however, died, taking the fatalities to 58.
“I would like to urge that there should be no stigmatisation of individuals who have tested positive. There is not a single person who is safe from becoming Covid-19 positive. Anybody can get it,” the CS said.
He said that when somebody is positive what they need is care and empathy.
“That is what we should be concerned with and when they turn negative then we welcome them and be happy and pray and thank God that that is what has happened,” he said.
Kagwe said he was not aware that someone had escaped from Mbagathi quarantine centre.
If that is the case, he said, the person should surrender.
(edited by o. owino)