This archive report was first published on 17 July 2020.
On July 17, 2020, Kenya's Ministry of Health, led by CS Mutahi Kagwe, announced that 389 more people had contracted the novel coronavirus, raising the national tally to 12,062.
The new cases were reported after the country tested 3,545 samples in the last 24 hours, with 385 of the new patients being Kenyans and 4 being foreign nationals.
Among the new patients, 260 were males and 129 were females, with the youngest patient being a five-year-old infant and the oldest being a 95-year-old man.
CS Kagwe also announced that 5 more patients who had underlying conditions of hypertension and diabetes had succumbed to the respiratory disease, bringing the number of fatalities to 222.
He hailed the efforts of the Catholic churches in the battle against coronavirus and announced that 20 Cuban doctors would be arriving in Kenya to work closely with Kenyan doctors to battle the virus.
The foreign doctors will be stationed at the Kenyatta University and will stay in Kenya for an extendable period of 3 months.
According to CS Kagwe, "The idea here is for these doctors to work with our own doctors to gain knowledge from each other. Since 2018, we have worked in a partnership to improve healthcare services with the Cuban government; this partnership has seen Kenyan doctors receive specialized training in Cuba and Cuban doctors provide healthcare services throughout our country."
He added, "But this particular one is a special brigade that is going to be stationed at KU; and they’re specialized doctors in internal medicine, oncology, cardiology, and paediatrics. With the COVID-19 cases rising, these specialized doctors will go a long way in supporting our doctors in managing the disease and in exchanging of skill development."
CS Kagwe also commended President Uhuru Kenyatta for his efforts towards making a phone call to Cuban president to discuss the fate of the 20 doctors.
