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Corona claims 11 more lives, says Kagwe

Wednesday, December 16th, 2020 00:00 | By
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe. PD/File

Noah Cheploen @cheploennoah 

Eleven more patients have succumbed to Coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases hit 92,459, after 404 more people tested positive, according to data released by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe yesterday.

He said that the new cases were detected from 4,878 samples tested in the last 24 hours adding that the number of deaths now stand at 1,604. So far, he said that a total of 978,683 people have been tested.

“From the cases, 364 are Kenyans while 40 are foreigners. The youngest is an eight-month-old infant while the oldest is aged 79,” the CS said. 

“Our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their loved ones,” he added.

Of the 404 new cases, the CS said, Nairobi leads with 118 followed by Kilifi (110) Mombasa (66), Makueni (26), Nakuru (23), Kiambu (12), Kisumu (11), and Turkana (9) among others. Eleven other counties recorded between five to one case each.

Lang’ata sub-county leads in Nairobi with 21 cases while Malindi tops in Kilifi county with 75 cases followed by Kaloleni (11) and Magarini (7). 

In Mombasa, the 66 cases are in Mvita (33), Kisauni (30), Jomvu (2), and Likoni (10), he said.

On a positive note, 527 patients have been discharged—408 from the Home Based Care and 119 from various health facilities, bringing the number of recoveries to 73, 979.

According to the data sent to newsrooms, some 871 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities across the country while 6,284 others have been put under the Home Based Care which basically caters for asymptomatic patients.

The government launched the programme in June after it emerged that over 80 per cent of patients—locally—do not show any symptoms associated with the disease and therefore don’t need hospitalisation.

However, one has to meet certain criterion in order to be allowed to recover at home such as having a well ventilated room for isolation. They should also not have any pre-existing medical conditions.

Kagwe said that 46 patients are in the Intensive Care Unit where 23 are on ventilators and 17 are requiring supplemental oxygen support. He said six patients are under observation.

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