Covid-19: 246 more people test positive, tally jumps to 32,364

Kenya has recorded 246 more Covid-19 positive cases in the last 24 hours raising the country's total caseload to 32, 364.

In a statement sent by the Ministry of Health on Sunday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe (pictured) said 4, 179 samples were tested over the period taking the country’s cumulative tests to 421, 983.

All the cases were Kenyans except for eight who were foreigners.

Of the new cases, 157 are male and 89 are female while the youngest case is one-year-old and the oldest is aged 87.

On a positive note, 217 patients recovered with 178 on the home-based care programme while 39 were discharged from various hospital bringing the total number of recoveries to 18,670.

In county distribution, Nairobi leads with 78 cases, Kajiado 24, Kiambu 22, Nakuru 20, Busia 17, Trans Nzoia 17, Machakos 16, Kirinyaga 12, Kisii 11, Kisumu 8, Mombasa 6, Embu 3, Garissa 2, Nyeri 2.

 Nyamira, Kakamega, Isiolo, Kitui, Kericho, Muranga, Kilifi, Tharaka Nithi counties have one case each.

The 78 new cases in Nairobi are distributed as follows:  Starehe (17), Dagoretti North (10), Langata (7), Embakasi East (5), Westlands (5), Embakasi Central (4), Kasarani (4), Kibra (4), Dagoretti South (3), Embakasi West (3), Mkadara (3), Mathare (3), Ruaka (3), Embakasi South (2), Kamkunji (2), Roysambu (2), Embakasi North (1).

In Kajiado, the 24 cases are in Kajiado East (13), Kajiado North (5), Loitokitok (5), and Kajiado Central (1).

In Kiambu, the 22 cases are in Thika (16), Kiamba (2), Kiambu town (2) while Kabete and Ruiru have one case each.

In Nakuru, the 20 cases are in Nakuru East (7), Nakuru West (7), Naivasha (3), Gilgil (2) and Rongai (1).

In Busia, the 17 cases are Matayos (10), Teso South (4) while Teso North has three cases.

In Trans Nzoia, all the 17 cases are in Saboti while in Machakos, the 16 cases are in Athi River (15) while Machakos town has a case.

On a sad note, 6 patients succumbed to the disease bring the total number of deaths to 548.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday the world needs to unite and succeed in finding a vaccine.

“And in our situation now with more technology, and of course with more connectedness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast because we are more connected now,” he told a briefing in Geneva.

“But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it. So we have a disadvantage of globalisation, closeness, connectedness but an advantage of better technology.

“That is really key with utilising the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have additional tools like a vaccine.”

The WHO has always been cautious about giving estimates on how quickly the pandemic can be dealt with while there is no proven vaccine.