As Kisumu residents defy curbs, Covid cases rise sharply
The lakeside city of Kisumu is on the spotlight as latest data shows a steady rise in reported new Covid-19 cases over the past week.
Kisumu County Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o has raised the alarm, saying the region’s treatment center, the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, is currently full of Covid-19 patients.
Prof Nyong’o is blaming the public for the rising numbers, claiming they have become defiant on observing the given containment measures.
“They don’t observe social distance as required and they don’t put on facemasks. Keeping bodies overnight is still the norm. This wave is lethal and must not be taken for granted,” he said.
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According to the county health director, Dr Fred Oluoch, the cumulative Covid-19 cases stand at 3,810. “We have, however, vaccinated a total of 25,924 people against Covid-19,” he added.
A couple of weeks ago, Kisumu County was the first region in Kenya to report the deadly Covid-19 variant from India.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s COVID-19 positivity rate now at 7.7 per cent after 494 people tested positive from a sample size of 6,428.
The total number of confirmed cases now read 166,876 and the number of samples examined are 1,763,274 so far.
According to the Ministry of Health, five deaths have been confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of deaths to 3,040.
At the same time, 50 patients have recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries in Kenya to 114,285 since the pandemic struck the country last year.
Currently, 1,085 patients are admitted to different health facilities across the country while 4,624 patients are under home-based isolation and care program.
