This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
On Thursday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced a significant increase in COVID-19 infections in the country, with the total number of cases rising to 11,673.
Speaking in Nakuru County, where he launched the Primary Healthcare Strategic Framework and the Community Health Policy, CS Kagwe revealed that 421 new patients had tested positive for the disease within the last 24 hours.
Of the new cases, 409 were Kenyans, while 12 were foreign nationals, comprising 297 males and 124 females aged between one and 83 years old.
CS Kagwe also reported that 512 patients had recovered from the disease while on home-based care within the last 24 hours, while another 58 were discharged from various health facilities, bringing the total number of recoveries to 3,638.
Unfortunately, eight more patients lost their lives to the disease, taking the number of fatalities to 217.
The CS emphasized that 42 out of the 47 counties had now recorded a coronavirus infection, with Nairobi leading at 6,491 cases, followed by Mombasa (1,783), Kiambu (640), and Nakuru (155).
CS Kagwe reiterated the government's call for personal responsibility, stating, 'The serious culprits of not wearing masks are men, the average female walking around this country has a mask on.'
He added, 'The release of people to go wherever they want was not because we did not expect the number of cases to go up; the president decided to do that because we believe that Kenyans have attained a level of care and understanding for this disease so that it is no longer necessary for the government to follow everybody around.'
CS Kagwe further commended the Nakuru County government for surpassing the 300-bed capacity requirement as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and for aiming at hitting 1,000 beds within the next 4-5 weeks.
