Covid-19: Eight more test positive for coronavirus

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe at a past press briefing on March 27, 2020. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Eight more people have tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 50, the Health Ministry has said.

Of the eight positive cases, one was a guest under mandatory quarantine, six others were close contacts of the 42 cases reported yesterday and the other from The Aga Khan Hospital.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe on Monday said Nairobi still leads in the number of cases as community transmissions spiked across the country.

This means that the Covid-19 disease is no longer being imported from outside the country but is spreading from one person to another locally.

The new cases are spread out in the country with Kitui and Mombasa each having a case while Nairobi recorded six.

Nairobi County has a cumulative of 34 positive cases followed by Kilifi at six and Mombasa at three. Kajiado and Kwale counties each have a case.

And just as the global figures, more males (26) than female (24) have tested positive to the highly-contagious virus.

Kenya has reported one fatality from the virus.

CS Kagwe said tracing of the contacts of the 50 patients is ongoing.

He said the government is monitoring 1,474 close contacts of which 231 had been discharged after completing the mandatory 14-day follow-up period.

"Currently, our teams are monitoring 1,211 close contacts."

Kagwe added that the ministry has since done 1,005 tests.

"From the above data, it is evident that the virus is being spread through community transmission. This now calls for a lot more personal responsibility among Kenyans in this fight against the disease," the CS said.

This, according to Kagwe, called for an "immediate" increase in the level of "alert and intervention measures".

As such, he directed bodaboda riders to carry only one passenger so as to "maintain some level of distance."

"Secondly, the bodaboda rider and the passenger must wear masks for protection," Kagwe said, adding that they will be distributing the face masks in the counties.

Police officers will enforce the directive.

"We are doing so to protect both the riders and their passengers. You can imagine how many people a rider has behind him each day," Kagwe said, "They have no idea who has the virus or does not."

He went on: "This is a measure so that the business can continue if it continues to follow the rules."

CS Kagwe also urged Kenyans not to travel up-country during the outbreak period as many elderly people lived in the villages.

"Statistics have shown that a majority of our elderly people live upcountry and that they are likely to get exposed as it happened in Italy by this kind of movement," he said.

Kagwe asked  employers to release their staff at 4 pm so that they can get home in time before the nationwide curfew that starts at 7 pm.

They have also been asked not to slash the salaries of the employees for working fewer hours.

The government projects that the cases will be about 5,000 in mid-April and 10,000 at the end of April if State directives will be properly followed.