Kenya's Covid-19 positivity rate at 1.3% after 69 new cases

The Ministry of Health has reported that another 69 people have tested positive for coronavirus from a sample size of 5,345 tested in the last 24 hours.

The positivity rate is now at 1.3 per cent, and from the cases, 66 are Kenyans while 3 are foreigners.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said in a statement on Wednesday that 37 males and 32 are females.

The youngest is a one-year-old child while the oldest is 99 years.

This brings the total confirmed positive cases to 254,453 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,780,991.

Nairobi leads with 20 cases, Siaya 7, Kericho 6, Kilifi 4, Nakuru 3, Nyandarua 3, Kisumu 2, Kiambu 2, Garissa 2, Kajiado 2, Busia 2, Taita Taveta 2, Murang’a 2, Turkana 2, Uasin Gishu 2, Kakamega 1, Kisii 1, Mombasa 1, Nandi 1, Bomet1, Bungoma 1, Embu 1 and Nyeri 1.

Kagwe said that 80 patients have recovered from the disease with 44 from the Home-Based Isolation and Care program while 36 are from various health facilities countrywide.

The total recoveries now stand at 247,791 of whom 200,140 are from the Home-Based Care and Isolation program, while 47,651 are from various health facilities countrywide.

He also said that three patients have succumbed to the disease, pushing the cumulative fatalities to 5,325.

A total of 362 patients are currently admitted to various health facilities countrywide, while 1,013 are under the Home-Based Isolation and Care program.

Also, three patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 10 of whom are on ventilatory support and 13 on supplemental oxygen. No patient is under observation.

Another 117 patients are separately on supplemental oxygen with 114 of them in the general wards. Three patients are in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).

Vaccination

The CS said that the country has surpassed the 6 million marks in the Covid-19 vaccination exercise.

“I would like to call on all the eligible Kenyans to come out and get vaccinated so that we

can vaccinate 10 million Kenyans by December 2021 and achieve herd immunity,” Kagwe said.

As of November 16, 2021, a total of 6,168,086 vaccines had been administered across the country. Of these, 3,924,602 were partially vaccinated while those fully vaccinated were

2,243,484.

The uptake of the second dose among those who received their first dose was at 53.5 per cent.

The proportion of adults fully vaccinated was 8.2 per cent.

The CS also has announced the extension of the shelf life of J&J vaccine.

“The extension of storage at 2-8◦ C of the J&J vaccine to 6 months, only applies to vaccine doses coming from the US, usually donated doses that are shipped at this temperature. For doses coming through COVAX or the EU, the shelf-life at 2-8◦C remains 4.5 months.”

Edited by D Tarus