Virulent India Covid strain confirmed in Kenya as 489 test positive
A coronavirus variant first detected in pandemic battered India has been diagnosed in Kenya with about five people being examined juts about a week after the virulent variant was reported in neighboring Uganda.
The news comes as 489 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, posting an 11 per cent positivity rate, the Ministry of Health has said.
Kenya’s Covid-19 caseload now stands at 161,393.
Kenya has already suspended passenger flights into and out of India.
From a sample size of 4,426 tested on May 5, the cumulative positive cases in Kenya now stand at 1,692,532.
From the cases, the youngest is a four-month-old infant while the oldest is 102 years old.
The counties of Nairobi, Siaya, Nandi, Embu, and Kisumu top the list where the cases were highly recorded at 130, 39, 37, 35, and 33 respectively.
Read also: Covid lays bare the plight of medical doctors in Kenya
Bomet, Busia, Kericho, Kisii, Laikipia, and Wajir recorded the least case with one case each.
Addressing the media on Wednesday 5, Health CAS, Dr Rashid Aman, confirmed that 20 more deaths were recorded pushing the total fatalities to 2,825.
Eleven of the deaths were reported on diverse dates within the last month while nine are late deaths reports from health facilities audits.
The cumulative deaths by age are; 0-9 years (53), 10-19 years (20), 20-29 (103), 30-39 years (238), 40-49 years (369), 50-59 years (610), 60 years and above (1,432).
Dr Aman also announced that 552 patients have recovered from the virus, 303 from health facilities across the country and 249 from the home-based and isolation centers
However, some 1,164 patients are currently admitted to various health facilities with 153 of them in the ICU.
In terms of vaccination, 900,459 Kenyans have so far received their first jab with 524, 720 being members of the public including those aged above 58 years, 159,308 are healthcare workers, 140,354 are teachers, and 76,077 are security personnel.
