This archive report was first published on 22 April 2020.
As of April 22, Kenya had reported 303 COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths, prompting the government to take swift action.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced plans to conduct 250,000 COVID-19 tests by June 30, citing the need for a multipronged surveillance strategy to detect and contain the spread of the virus.
Currently, the country has 25,000 testing kits, but the government is working with development partners to increase the number of tests.
‘This 250,000 will not match our population, hence we are collaborating with our development partners to ramp up our surveillance testing mechanisms,’ Kagwe said.
The plan involves community-based surveillance, hospital-based surveillance, and population-based surveillance, with a focus on high-risk areas and populations, including health workers.
‘We are looking at 100,000 households for community-based surveillance and have mapped out 20 hospitals in 16 regions for hospital-based surveillance,’ Kagwe added.
The World Health Organization has warned that the number of coronavirus cases in Africa could surge from thousands to 10 million within three to six months, citing recent outbreaks in Somalia and Tanzania.
Kenya's first COVID-19 case was reported on March 13, and 83 patients have since recovered from the virus.
