This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
On Monday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe highlighted the significance of contact tracing in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that it is a critical tool for interrupting the transmission chain through early detection and isolation of cases.
Speaking during the handover of vehicles to County Directors of Health, Representatives of COG, and Nairobi Metropolitan Service, Kagwe noted that all counties are required to have rapid response/contact tracing teams.
According to Kagwe, at the time of response to an alert on a suspected case, contacts are listed for follow-up and investigation, and close contacts are tested, while the rest are followed up for 14 days.
He commended the rapid response and surveillance teams for their great work, saying that initially, they were using telephone calls to get in touch with contacts, but they are now rolling out a web-based application linked to the Kenya electronic medical records.
There are currently 229 teams in all the counties, and the National Response and Contact Tracing team is conducting training for the teams on the usage of the web-based tool and data management.
Transport has been one of the key challenges identified, especially in accessing rural areas, as the government works to provide quality healthcare.
On Monday, 189 people tested positive from a sample size of 1,205 tested in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of positive cases to 10,294.
Of the new cases, 106 are males and 83 are females, with the youngest being a five-year-old child and the oldest being 71.
The distribution of positive cases by counties is as follows: Nairobi (147), Kiambu (20), Machakos (11), Kajiado (5), Mombasa (2), Uasin Gishu, Kisumu, Laikipia, and Kericho each having one case.
65 patients were discharged from various hospitals, bringing the number of recoveries to 2,946, while 12 Kenyans succumbed to the virus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 197.
