Six patients die of Covid-19 as 193 more test positive for the virus

Kenya’s coronavirus overall caseload has spiked to 32, 557 after 193 more people tested positive for the virus in 3,381 samples tested in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health has said.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Rashid Aman (pictured above) told the press in a Monday Covid-19 status update that the country has now tested 425,364 samples. He said Kenya had a positive step after it registered 255 recoveries, where 188 people came from home-based care while 37 came from the treatment facilities. A record of 18,895 people has so far recovered from the bug.

 Unfortunately, six patients died from the virus bringing the total death tally to 554. While responding to questions by reporters, Dr Aman said that the shrinking number of positive cases cannot be taken as a sign that Kenya was winning the war against the disease. He, however, said that the country was yet to receive more test kits which could translate to higher initial figures posted in a day or even more.

Childcare

The CS emphasised on the pertinence of maternal health and child care which he said were necessary areas to combat the infant mortality in the country.

“Newborn deaths account for 42 per cent of all under-five (years-old) deaths and 56 per cent of all infants. Main causes of neonatal mortality include intrapartum complications, birth asphyxia (31.6 per cent), prematurity (26 per cent), and infections which account for 15.8 per cent of the deaths,” stated Dr Aman.

 "In Kenya, we have recorded 768 children under the age of 10 years as Covid-19 positive of whom four have died. On the other hand, 430 under five years have been confirmed positive and the deaths in this group are two."

He stated that there are plans by the Ministry of Health to work with counties in equipping health facilities with the required resources for childcare.

Part of the initiative is the Kangaroo Mother Care intervention program which said are operational in 31 counties. This he said targets mothers and young children and will be set up at least one unit per county to decongest the referral hospitals. Nonetheless, he said the program has been hampered the slow pace of implementation.  

According to Dr Aman, some of the programs the government eyes for childcare are training on newborn care and nurturing children by keeping them safe and well-nourished. For instance, he said that the facilities are insisting on retaining the newborn babies until they have attained at least 3kgs before being discharged.