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The Government is now relying heavily on private facilities to boost the country’s Covid-19 preparedness as the disease shows no signs of slowing down, with 18 new deaths.
The Ministry of Health has called on counties to initiate partnerships with both private facilities and institutions of higher learning to bridge the gap that seems to widen as cases increase.
The partnerships are meant to assist the counties to increase their isolation and intensive care unit bed capacity.
According to the ministry, Nairobi County, which has the highest number of cases, has 1,180 beds, 76 of these being ICU out of the 19 facilities assessed.
These facilities, said Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi, comprise of those under the National Government, private and Nairobi Metropolitan Service.
“From this assessment, over 99 per cent of the current bed count in Nairobi County is attributed to beds outside of Nairobi Metropolitan Service facilities,” said Mwangangi.
She added: “It is clear without the private and National Government sector, Nairobi County will not meet the 300 minimum isolation bed requirement.”
“Although this scenario may be unique to Nairobi, other counties need to take note and address their needs accordingly,” she said.
Kenya plans to collaborate with more international organisations to boost its fight against Covid-19 with the latest fatality being a health worker, a Kemri director of corporate services, Kamau Mugenda. While giving the Covid-19 update, Mwangangi also reported the death of a 55-year-old woman at her home in Meru. She also had hypertension.
This comes as 743 patients are reported to have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries so far to 14,610.
A total of 685 of those discharged were from the home-based care programme, while 58 were discharged from various health facilities.
Mwangangi reported that Kenya recorded 679 new cases, raising the country’s total to 28,104.
The new cases came from 6,590 samples that were tested within the last 24 hours. From the new infections, 658 were Kenyans while 31 were foreigners.
A one-month-old baby was among the statistics of the positives with the oldest infected being an 87-year-old. Nairobi continues to lead with the number of infections at 349, followed by Kiambu 69, Kajiado 35, Machakos 25 and Nyeri 23.
Garissa had 18, Mombasa 16, Kericho 14, Uasin Gishu 13, Nyandarua 13, Tharaka Nithi 11, Laikipia 9, Nakuru 8, Migori 8, Kisumu 7, Nandi 6, Busia 6 and Meru 5.
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