Ministry warns against laxity as Covid positivity rate goes down

The Covid-19 positivity rate has remained below five per cent, an indication that the country is heading in the right direction in the fight against the pandemic.

The positivity rate was at 2.6 per cent yesterday which is below the 5.0 percentile mark put by the World Health Organization (WHO) to inform that a country is flattening the curve among other thresholds.

But even with this, the Ministry of Health maintains that caution should not be thrown to the wind until everyone is vaccinated.

“We have actually flattened the curve but we will still have surges until everyone is vaccinated and protected. We can say we are at a good place but we should not lower our guard,” said Acting Health Director General Patrick Amoth, adding that the numbers of deaths and active cases on Intensive Care Unit (ICU) have reduced as well.

According to the Ministry, the positivity rate has to be maintained for two weeks before a decision to reopen the economy or go back to normal activities, with active surveillance is done.

The country has been slowly getting back to normalcy with children back to in-person learning, bars open and politicians holding rallies despite the warning against crowding.

Vaccinated

For some time now, even the number of samples tested have been reducing which the Ministry of Health has been quick to explain that it does not necessarily mean the daily updates give a false impression of the status of the disease in the country.

“It is not that the numbers have gone down, we are now focusing the tests more on those who are at risk like truck drivers and those who have been in contact with active cases,” said Dr Amoth.

He noted that the highest positivity since the beginning of the year was recorded on January 7, at 6.8 per cent.

When schools reopened partially in October last year, Kenya had a positivity rate of 3.4 per cent.

In November, the number of infections rose drastically driving the positivity rate to 19 per cent, the highest witnessed since the virus was reported in the country.

At the peak, the ministry reported over 1,000 new cases in a day with more deaths.

However, less than a month later, the positivity rate dropped to just over three per cent.

The Ministry of Health yesterday reported 129 new infections out of a sample size of 4,797 and three deaths. A total of 391 patients are admitted in various health facilities across the country while 1,378 are on home-based isolation and care.

The government is targeting to vaccinate 16 million people by end of the year.

More than one million health care workers and essential providers will be among the first people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 later this month when the vaccines arrive in the country.

However, scientists have warned Kenyans against relenting in the fight against coronavirus, irrespective of low positivity rate documented by the Ministry of Health.

Dr Eric Osoro, a researcher working with the Washington States University Global Health-Kenya said they are still studying progress of the virus.

“Research has revealed that most people are still susceptible to the virus, and to break the chain of transmission, we should not tire from observing public health set measures,” he said.

Dr Osoro who was the lead researcher in a recent Covid-19 research finding in Nairobi revealed that at least one person out of three in the capital city has been infected by coronavirus.

The findings published two weeks ago, show infection in the capital city was rated higher, compared to countries that have reported high infections and deaths like Europe and the US.

The research was done by Kenya Medical Research Institute, University of Nairobi and Washington State University.

Though more people are reported to have been infected with the virus, research is still underway to reveal duration of antibodies in the body.

“Recent studies show that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, including neutralising ones, persist in the serum for at least 6–7 months,” reads a section of the study, titled Endemic SARS-CoV-2 will maintain post-pandemic immunity, published on January 5.