Concerns over rising Covid positivity rate in Kenya
The positivity rate of coronavirus in the country is on the rise again after months of recording a below five per cent rate.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health, in its daily updates, said 202 people tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 2,787 tested in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate is now at 7.2 per cent.
This comes a month after Director of Public Health at the ministry, Francis Kuria, advised Kenyans to consider wearing masks as the positivity rate in May reached 5.6 per cent and averaged 3.3 per cent weekly.
The rise comes at a time when campaigns for the August 9 General Election are intensifying across the country, with political leaders holding numerous public gatherings to sell their manifestos.
Kenya lifted Covid-19 containment measures, including mandatory wearing of face masks in public places, in March after recording the lowest positivity case rate.
According to the statement released by the ministry on Thursday, no patient succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, therefore the cumulative fatalities remain 5,651.
The ministry also said 31 patients are currently admitted in health facilities, while 1,327 are under the home-based isolation and care programme. However, there are currently no patients admitted in ICU, none is on supplemental oxygen and no patient is in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).
A total of 18,364,600 vaccines have been administered across the country. Of these, 16,540,639 are doses administered to the adult population (18 years and above). So far, the country has fully vaccinated 31.2 per cent of its population.