You’re to blame for Covid-19 deaths, angry Kagwe tells politicians
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe is pointing an accusing finger to politicians for escalating Covid-19 deaths in Kenya, saying the issue is frustrating efforts by his ministry to fight the pandemic.
“It is getting a point to where you are frustrating us. We have no bed capacity, isolation facilities are full and you are still causing crowds everywhere,” Mr Kagwe said.
Speaking during Covid-19 briefing on Monday, at Afya House, Mr Kagwe said Kenyans cannot continue with the politicians’ behavior anymore.
“We cannot continue to gather crowds. It’s obvious these campaigns are killing people. We saw this in Kiambaa, Kiambu County. It is obvious. What is the political cost if we will be burying many people? We urge our political class not to be the cause of the problem,” a visibly angry Mr Kagwe said.
In his latest directives to curb Covid-19 infections, President Kenyatta banned physical and in-person public gatherings and meetings, including political rallies and campaign meetings, a directive which some politicians have openly been defying.
In the last 24 hours, 10 patients have succumbed to COVID-19 all of them being late deaths reported after conducting facility record audits on diverse dates in August.
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This now pushes the cumulative Covid-19 fatalities in Kenya to 4,720.
At the same time, 346 people have tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 3,553 tested in the last 24 hours.
The positivity rate is now at 9.7 per cent. Total confirmed positive cases are now 235,298 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,367,077.
However, a total of 1,404 patients have recovered from coronavirus; 1,327 from home-based isolation and care program while 77 are from various health facilities.
Total recoveries now stand at 222,357; 180,176 are from the home-based care and isolation program and 42,181 are from various health facilities.
A total of 1,951 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 5,924 are under the home-based isolation and care program.
An estimated 148 patients are in the ICU, 108 of whom are on ventilatory support and 36 on supplemental oxygen.
Further, another 833 patients are separately on supplemental oxygen with 757 of them in general wards and 79 in High Dependency Units (HDU).
