5,206 cases, but how many have we tested?

Covid-19 cases in the country have surpassed 5,000, even as questions are being raised on the exact number of people tested so far.

In the daily briefings issued by the Ministry of Health, the actual number of people who have been tested for the virus has never been given.

However, the country is aware of the number of confirmed cases, which now stand at 5,206.

As of yesterday, a total of 151,396 samples had been tested, according to the ministry. Of these, 4,859 were tested to get yesterday's 254 cases, which were announced by the Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Mercy Mwangangi.

It is, however, not clear exactly how many people have been tested, considering the fact that for an accurate positive diagnosis of the disease, two or even more samples have to be taken from one individual.

Health Director General (DG) Dr Patrick Amoth explained a little about the samples taken; one deep from the throat through the nose and the other through the throat.

“All these are treated as one, so even if we take two specimens we still treat them as one. One specimen for assessment, those are not two tests,” he said.

The DG explained that the sample taken from deep inside one’s throat through the nose is more sensitive in picking the viral particles than the one through the throat directly.

“What we are trying to do is to ensure that in case you are positive, we do not miss anything,” he said.

However, the question raised by The Standard on the exact number of persons the county has so far tested was still not answered, at least with figures.

It is the same question that Kenyans have been asking and was raised yesterday during the #AsktheDG forum on Twitter, where people raise questions on Covid-19 issues and are answered by the DG.

“Been asking this question for weeks, but no response: How many people, not samples, have been tested for Covid-19 in Kenya since the first case was confirmed? #AskTheDG. Since one person may require multiple tests, it can't be taken at a given (time) that samples tested = people tested,” posed Karanja Matindi via his handle @braga_vance.

Mwangangi said the issue of the number of samples tested versus people was a no and yes situation.

This, she explained, was because not only does one need to have the two samples taken from them, but some people have more than these sets of samples extracted.

“At the end of the day, I think the question is, when we say we have done 4,000 tests, are we saying those are 4,000 oral and nasal swabs? It is a yes and no answer. There are patients who have two or three swabbing procedures done on them at the same time,” she explained.

She said it should be noted that even the procedure through which the swab is done is key so as to get the exact sample.

“Remember there could be also discarding of a sample or swab,” she said.

Without these exact number of people, it poses a challenge to understand the extent of the disease in the country.

However, from what the ministry issued yesterday, the rate of infection is highest in Mombasa at 107.9 per every 100,000 people. This is compared to Nairobi, whose rate is 55.2 per 100,000.

It is still not clear why we have such a disparity between these two counties, yet Nairobi leads with 2,428 cases while Mombasa has 1,304. “It is a function of many variables, but we are still conducting studies,” said Mwangangi.

Only seven counties have not reported a case so far. However, the CAS said all counties may have already been afflicted by the disease.