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Nineteen people have died of coronavirus in Kenya in the last 24 hours, pushing the national fatalities to 1,130.
Some 1,331 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 5,843 are on Home-Based Isolation and Care.
Some 59 patients are in ICU, 21 of whom are on ventilatory support and 33 on supplementary oxygen.
Another 90 patients are separately on supplementary oxygen out of whom 74 are in general wards. Sixteen are in the High Dependency Unit.
Oxygen, which was classified by WHO in 2017 as an essential medicine for the treatment of hypoxemia (low oxygen levels in the blood), was finally listed as such in the 2019 Kenya Essential Medicines List, as one of the six inhalational medicines that should be available from dispensaries level.
In a recent media briefing on Covid-19, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said medical oxygen is a key element in response to the pandemic.
For instance, the Covid-19 isolation centre at Mogotio sub-County Hospital in Baringo has reported a shortage of medical oxygen.
In another instance, the consumption of medial oxygen at Covid-19 unit at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital (PGH) in Nakuru has also increased in the recent past.
A source at the private entity told The Standard they are supplying PGH with an average of 55 to 60 cylinders of 60 kilogrammes each, every day, an increase from 25 to 30 litres that used to be supplied before the pandemic.
“Highest consumer of oxygen at PGH is the isolation ward. The number of patients in need of the medical oxygen is overwhelming and the facility converted one of the wards to an isolation unit,” said the source.
PGH has an automatic oxygen concentrator launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta, under the Managed Equipment Services, in partnership between the county and national governments in 2016.
But the hospital in-charge Dr Joseph Mburu said since oxygen at the plant is not packaged into cylinders, the management is forced to purchase extra medical oxygen.
Some 756 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Kenya in the last 24 hours from a sample size of 4,316. The figure bring to 63,244 he number of confirmed positive cases in the country.
In a statement on Monday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe (pictured) said from the cases 731 are Kenyans and 25 are foreigners.
In terms of gender 478 are men and 278 are women.
The county distribution recorded 371 cases in Nairobi followed by Mombasa (82), Kiambu (52) and Busia (39).
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