Health CAS urges Kenyans to stop sharing videos of Covid-19 patients as it leads to stigma

Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi on Tuesday urged Kenyans to stop subjecting Covid-19 patients to stigma.

While giving the daily Covid-19 update, Dr Mwangangi stated that the videos being shared online of patients being picked by ambulances are leading to stigmatization especially after their recovery.

“Anyone can get this disease. We have been seeing videos of patients being picked by ambulances in the estates and this is not right,” she said.

Adding: “This has led to profiling of the patients…getting this disease is not a crime.”

She also expressed concern at the high numbers recorded by Nairobi County saying something needs to be done urgently and residents need to take extra caution.

This comes as the country recorded 497 new cases out of 4922 samples tested.

The national tally now stands at 10791 and out of the new cases, 480 are Kenyans while 17 are foreigners.

Nairobi continues to lead in terms of the numbers as it recorded 292 new cases.

Unfortunately, five more patients succumbed to the virus, taking the number of fatalities to 202.

On a more positive note, 71 patients were discharged. The number of recoveries now stands at 3017.