Covid-19: 440 more people test positive, tally jumps to 17,975

Kenya has recorded yet another spike in Covid-19 infections by 440 in the past 24 hours leading to a total caseload of 17,975.

According to the Ministry of Health's statement sent to media houses on Monday evening, the new cases were recorded after testing 3,197 samples taking the country’s cumulative tests to 279,612.

Of the new cases, 437 are Kenyans while three are foreigners.

In gender distribution, 286 are male while 154 are females with the youngest aged 1 and the oldest 84.

On a positive note, the Ministry of Health has also announced that 90 patients recovered from the virus and were discharged from various treatment facilities.

This means that a total of 7,833 patients have so far recovered from the virus.

County distribution

Nairobi was leading with 326 cases, followed by Machakos (32) Kajiado (17), Kiambu (17), Uasin Gishu (13), Mombasa (10), Muranga (5), Baringo (5), Kilifi (5), Busia (2), Wajir (2), Nyeri, Embu, Taita Taveta and Tharaka Nithi a single case each.

In Nairobi, Langáta led with 59 new coronavirus cases followed by Embakasi East (46, Westlands (38), Embakasi West (29), Kibra (23), Dagoretti North (17), Embakasi South (16), Kasarani (16), Makadara (15), Embakasi Central (14), Embakasi North (13) Roysambu (10), Ruaka (10), Starehe (10), Kamkunji (6) Dagoretti South (3) and Mathare one case.

In Machakos, Machakos town recorded 16 cases, Athi River (15) and Kangundo (1)

In Kajiado, the 17 cases are in Kajiod East (11), Kajiado North (3) and Kajiado Central (3).

On a sad note, five patients succumbed to the disease bringing the total number of deaths to 285.

Since the first Covid-19 case in the country on March 13, the country’s caseload has risen by over 17,000 within just a span of 4 months.

Deaths have equally increased several folds close to 300-mark by July. Yesterday, the country registered 960 new positive cases with 160 recoveries. President Uhuru Kenyatta met governors to discuss the adjustments to the restrictions of coronavirus safety rules.

In his last address, President Uhuru promised a return to the lockdown in case the situation would escalate.

“The order to reopen is issued conditionally. Should the situation deteriorate and pose a challenge to our health infrastructure, we will have to revert back to lockdown,” he said.

“Any trends that signal the worsening of the pandemic, we will have no choice but to return to lockdown at zero option.”

Nonetheless, the governors changed tune to renege on their earlier position where they called for a lockdown of hotspot counties.

Speaking to the Standard yesterday, Chair Council of Governors Wycliffe Oparanya said that strictly following the restrictions would be a preferable strategy to a lockdown.

"To force them back to their homes is not solving the problem given that the country is not ready to provide essential commodities to people during the lockdown,” Oparanya said.

President’s plea

In his address to the nation after chairing a summit with the governor, President Uhuru Kenyatta said that it would have been needless to lock up the country as he emphasised on personal responsibility.

The President said that the low death rate could be giving Kenyans false confidence that this virus could not be dangerous to human life.

“The government cannot police the morality of its citizens. Citizens must balance between their individual rights and the responsibility to each other,” President said.

He said the government cannot deploy police officers for everyone in the streets and urged Kenyans to speak up, and report those who refuse to obey the health safety rules. He told Kenyans to consider avoiding doing business with those who will fail to abide by the rules to help in their enforcement.

He took a sly dig at countries that have failed to report on the infection status saying that the disease does not select.

“Those virus knows no one. We are not immune...all of us are children of God,” he stated.

The Head of State that the country is still at war and urged Kenyans to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with each other.

 “The only question is whether we will emerge with the low number of deaths or we shall suffer a catastrophe,” he said.

Uhuru fired a warning to those who would be found to have breached the health safety guidelines put aside by the Ministry of Health, adding that they would be dealt with regardless of their status in the society.

“All the measures I am announcing today shall apply to all Kenyans regardless of their political standings,” he warned.

“We will do this without hesitation because we hold precious the life of every Kenyan,”

 The President said that over 70 of counties have met the irreducible minimum of requirements agreed upon three weeks ago. But warned that the bid for compliance is not a competition between national county governments or individuals.

 In the new restrictions, the President ordered the continuation of dusk to dawn curfew which will now run from 8pm to 4am. Other restrictions include the closure of bars and permanent withdrawal of licenses of bars that shall be found to have breached the Covid-19 rules.