Kenya Covid death toll surges past 3,000
Two people have succumbed to the Covid-19 virus in the last 24 hours pushing Kenya’s death toll past 3,000 mark.
This now brings the country’s total fatalities to 3,003 since the pandemic first struck the nation in March 2020.
In the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health announced another 86 new Covid-19 infections from a sample size of 2,789 posting a positivity rate of 3.1 per cent.
This marks a new record low of new infections since the third wave of the pandemic hit the country early this year. The total number of infections now stands at 165,465.
According to the Ministry of Health, 123 more patients have recovered from the virus bringing the total number of recoveries to 113,612. A total of 65 are from various health facilities across the country while 58 were on home-based care and isolation.
Read also: 15 more India Covid variant cases detected in Kenya
Over 1,000 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 4,815 patients are under the home-based isolation and care program, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the head of UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency, has asked G7 countries to donate excess supplies of Covid-19 vaccines to the global COVAX sharing scheme as an emergency measure to address a severe shortfall following a curb on exports from India.
India had earlier pledged supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India, however, the runaway cases in the country have derailed the plan as domestic demand keeps increasing.
UNICEF, which is in charge of supplying coronavirus vaccines through COVAX, estimates the supply shortfall will reach 140 million doses by the end of May and about 190 million by the end of June.
“Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, adding that “the move could help prevent vulnerable countries
COVAX, run jointly by the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance, relies heavily on the AstraZeneca shot, which accounts for the bulk of the vaccines earmarked for early roll out as it seeks to provide two billion doses this year.
According to US-based John Hopkins University Hospital tally, at least 161 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and more than 3.3 million have died.
So far, about 1.26 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally.
