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The government has reported 178 new cases of Covid-19 as it revealed reduced cases of pneumonia and diarrhoea as a spillover effect of the measures put to combat the spread of the disease.
Pneumonia and diarrhoea are symptomatic illnesses associated with infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused Covid-19 as documented by the World Health Organisation.
Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) Chief Executive Officer Evanson Kamuri said due to the measures put in place, among them handwashing, majority of Kenyans have been extra careful. As a result, there has been a reduction in hospitalisation cases of disease spread through droplets.
“When was the last time you heard someone had diarrhoea or someone with a cough? That can tell you the numbers have come down for obvious reasons — change of habit,” he said.
Dr Kamuri said this change of behaviour has made majority of Kenyans to avoid eating in unfamiliar places where they are not sure how the food has been prepared exposing themselves to waterborne diseases.
“We have registered very few cases of diarrhoea and even pneumonia cases among children have come down. We hope this trend will continue post Covid,” he said.
Diarrhoea diseases features at position one among the top 10 diseases in the country that causes death as listed by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC).
Pneumonia was listed by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2017 Economy Survey as the leading killer with an average of 21,000 deaths every year.
Pneumonia, diarrhoea and cholera spread majorly through contact of contaminated secretions from one’s body.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi, while issuing the daily briefing yesterday, said there are no absolute figures to confirm these. What the ministry has noticed is a mixed picture.
“We have some reduction in some areas where fewer reports of diarrhoea and cholera have been reported and in other instances we have had a plateauing of the cases,” she said.
Dr Mwangangi said the Ministry of Health was analysing the data holistically, which will be looked into beyond Covid-19 to be able to come up with a true picture, whether there has been a reduction or increase.
“Once we do, the data will allow us to give a quantitative figure in the near future,” she said.
The CAS also oversaw the launch of a contact centre for healthcare workers at KNH to give psychosocial support to health workers across the country who might be in need of talking to a professional.
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