Kenya Covid positivity rate at 7.4 per cent as WHO warns of delayed vaccine
The Coronavirus positivity rate in Kenya is now at 7.4 per cent after 316 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours.
According to the Ministry of Health, the cumulative positive cases are now at 163,554 after a sample of 4,251 tested in the latest data.
“Since the pandemic was first reported in the country, Kenya has conducted 1,719,289 tests,” read a statement.
On a sad note, 12 people have succumbed to the virus; one death having occurred in the last 24 hours and 11 on diverse dates within the last one month. This now pushes the cumulative fatalities to 2,895 since the pandemic struck the nation.
Meanwhile, 65 patients have recovered from the disease; 39 from various health facilities within the country while 23 are from the home-based and isolation care.
Total recoveries now stand at 111,191; 80,558 are from home based care and isolation while 30,633 are from various health facilities.
At the same time, a total of 1,099 patients are currently admitted to various health facilities across the country.
On vaccination, so far 916,800 persons have been vaccinated against the virus.
Meanwhile, The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning of a new wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies, a slow rollout, and new variants.
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The African Bureau of the UN agency said the continent has to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of vaccine rollouts.
“The delay in the delivery of vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India earmarked for Africa, the delay in the deployment of vaccines and the emergence of new variants means that the risk of a new wave of infections remains very high in Africa,” read a statement.
Africa has so far received over 36 million doses of vaccine with about 2o million people getting inoculated.
A report by South African Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize indicates that eleven cases of Covid-19 variant B.1.1.7 and four of B.1.617.2 variants have been detected in South Africa.
The Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa confirmed four cases of the B.1.617.2 variant, which was first detected in India, have been detected in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and all the affected people had a recent history of traveling from India.
Of all the 11 cases, eight were detected in the Western Cape while one was detected in KwaZulu-Natal and two were detected in Gauteng adding that the variant was spreading in communities.
“The B.1.1.7 variant has been detected in community samples and this, therefore, suggests that community transitions have already set it,” he said.
South Africa has so far recorded 1,594,817 Covid-19 cases with 54,724 deaths.
