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Kenya has recorded 904 Covid-19 positive cases from a sample of 5,673, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 154,392.
From the cases, 885 were Kenyans while 19 were foreigners. 519 were men and 385 were women.
The youngest was a two-month-old infant while the oldest was aged 97.
The positivity rate stood at 15.9 percent. The cumulative tests so far conducted in the country are 1,624,663.
In terms of county distribution, Nairobi county recorded 288 cases, followed by Mombasa 88, Meru 54, Nakuru 32, Kakamega 31, Busia 31, Uasin Gishu 29 and Nyamira 29, among others.
Eighty-eight patients recovered from the disease on the last 24 hours, 76 from various health facilities across the country. Twelve were from Home Based & Isolation Care.
The country’s total recoveries now stand at 105,367, with 76,979 from the Home Based Care & Isolation while 28,388 are from various health facilities.
Twenty patients succumbed to Covid19, pushing the cumulative fatalities to 2,560.
A total of 1,507 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 6,834 patients are on Home Based Isolation & Care.
Some 226 patients are in the ICU, 52 of whom are on ventilatory support and 144 on supplemental oxygen. Thirty patients are on observation.
By the close of the day Thursday, a total of 778,254 persons had been vaccinated against Covid-19 disease countrywide. Of this, 446,329 are aged 58 years and above, 148,358 are health workers, 119,161 are teachers while 64,406 are security officers.
Meanwhile, the government is toying with the idea of doing away with double dosage of the Covid-19 jab to skirt around the current shortage of AstraZeneca vaccine.
The idea was birthed after it emerged that the delivery date for the next consignment of the vaccine may go beyond May.
At the same time, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe revealed plans to acquire two million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a one-dose prescription while Pfizer-BioNTech is two doses, just like AstraZeneca.
Kagwe said Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson will be acquired through the African Union (AU) and once the negotiations are done, they will be delivered.
Timelines for their delivery were, however, not given.
“Once we have concluded our deal, we expect one million doses for Pfizer-BioNTech and maybe another one million for Johnson & Johnson once production is ramped up,” said Kagwe. “That combined with what we can get from Covax facility (in this case AstraZeneca) should be able to allow us to continue with the vaccination process.”
He said these doses are essentially to back up and support what the country will be expecting from Covax.
It was expected by now that Kenya should have in the stores 2.5 million doses of the second batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the second phase of vaccination.
However, a new wave of the disease in India, where the vaccine is manufactured, is the reason behind the delay of the jab.
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