Covid cases begin to rise again as holiday season approaches

It’s just a few days to Christmas and the holiday season and the Coronavirus infections are on the rise again.

There are fears that if Kenyans don’t take precaution, many may be exposed to the virus, especially given the outbreak of the infectious Omicron variant which the Ministry of Health confirmed have been detected in Kenya.

The latest rise is a complete turn given that the positive cases had declined over the last few months. The Ministry of Health confirmed on Wednesday that 799 people tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 7,529 tested in the last 24 hours.

“The positivity rate is now at 10.6%. Of the cases, 687 are Kenyans while 112 are foreigners. 404 females and 395 are males. The youngest is a one-year-old child while the oldest is 74 years.” Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said

Total confirmed positive cases are now 257,614 and cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,902,294.

In terms of County distribution; Nairobi is leading with 60 percent of the total recorded cases with 539 cases followed by Kiambu with 57, Nakuru has 56, while Kericho registered 30.

And that’s not all, for the reason that, the number of people admitted in hospital or asked to isolate as a result of the disease is rising.

As of Wednesday, Kagwe disclosed that 147 patients had been admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 1,358 were under the Home-Based Isolation and Care program. He indicated that 1 patient is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and is receiving ventilatory support.

“Another 41 patients are on supplemental oxygen and all of them are in the general wards. No patient is in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).” He said

On a sad note, one patient succumbed to the disease which is a late death reported after conducting facility record audits in the month of December 2021. This now pushes the cumulative fatalities to 5,350.

Related