This archive report was first published on 8 May 2020.
On Friday, Kenya's total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases rose to 621, with 14 new positive test results announced by Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman.
According to Dr. Aman, all the new patients were Kenyans, with 10 from Nairobi, three from Mombasa, and Machakos County recording its first case of the disease.
The new cases were recorded following the testing of 922 samples in the last 24 hours.
Dr. Aman also announced that five more patients had been discharged after testing negative, raising Kenya's total number of recoveries to 202.
Additionally, the ministry announced that 237 Kenyans returned from India on Thursday and were booked into hotels at the government's expense.
More arrivals from other countries, including China, were expected to follow, with Kenyans who sought repatriation from China not receiving waivers for their flight tickets.
On Thursday, the long-awaited 'repatriation' flight (KQ 205) from India departed from Mumbai at 6:30 pm local time, with passengers expected to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine before being allowed to go home.
Regarding testing, Dr. Patrick Amoth, the acting Director-General in the Health ministry, stated that about 21,000 of the 29,000 tests carried out so far were primary, with the rest being subsequent tests to confirm the status of the persons they were collected from.
