Kenya Coronavirus Update for 14th June:137 more cases of COVID-19

Today June 14th 2020, the government has announced 137 new positive cases of coronavirus COVID-19 from a sample of 3,167 tested in the last 24 hours. The overall disease burden in the country now stands at 3,594 from 115,336 number of samples tested so far, the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Health, Mutahi Kagwe said today during a tour of Othaya National Teaching and Referral Hospital to assess the county’s level of preparedness to contain coronavirus pandemic.

The Cabinet Secretary thanked the County Government for the role they are playing to contain coronavirus. “This collaboration is responsible for the very low number of Covid-19 cases, at only 9, from a pool of 459 samples so far tested here in Nyeri,” he disclosed.

He stated that the Ministry of Health will continue to work with the County Government of Nyeri, by offering support to upgrade the county human resource and equipment capacity. Currently, the Ministry is supervising the training of trainers for 8 healthcare workers per county and has sensitized 1,281 other cadres of healthcare workers in Nyeri County.

He disclosed that non-communicable diseases (NCDS) such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer are a threat to economic development. “I am concerned that close to 24% of our population is living with high blood pressure, while 5% have high blood glucose. It is equally unacceptable, that over 47,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed, while 32,987 patients die of cancer each year, he noted.

Nyeri is one of the high burden counties for NCDs, with close to half of deaths in the county caused by NCDs, and about 700 new cancer cases annually. This is the reason why the county was selected as one of the UHC pilot counties due to its high NCD burden.

He advised that persons living with NCDs, are more at risk of becoming severely ill with Coronavirus disease, than those without. “To protect persons living with NCDs from the effects of Covid-19, my Ministry has been running an awareness campaign, and has issued guidelines on the management of patients with Covid-19 and NCDs, as well mental health in all our health facilities,” he noted.

“I want to urge all our people with NCDs, to follow medical advice and regime of medication, while at the same time observing Covid-19 containment measures of handwashing, social and physical distancing, and proper wearing of face masks in public places, among others,” he added.

The CS disclosed that under the Managed Equipment Services (MES) program, the Government has invested an estimated Kshs. 1.5 billion for the period 2013-2020, to upgrade health facilities in the county of Nyeri.

The 137 positive cases reported by the Cabinet Secretary are all Kenyans, with 102 males and 35 females. The youngest is one year old and the oldest 82 years. Nairobi has the highest number of the cases with 92, Mombasa, 16, Kajiado, 15, Busia and Kiambu, four, cases each, Kilifi, Nakuru, Nyamira, Uasin Gishu, Siaya and Muranga, have one case each. Nyamira is the latest county to report a COVID-19 case, bringing the total affected counties to 39.

In Nairobi, the 92 cases are from; Mathare, 25, Embakasi East, 10, Kibra, and Westlands, nine cases each, Langata, eight, Ruaraka, six, Dagoretti North, five, Embakasi South, Kasarani and Makadara, four cases each, Embakasi West, and Kamukunji three cases each, Roysambu and Starehe, one case each.

In Mombasa, the 16 cases are from Kisauni, six, Changamwe, and Mvita, three, cases each, Nyali, and Likoni, two cases each. In Kajiado 15 cases are from Loitokitok, seven, Kajiado Central six, and Kajiado East and Kajiado North, one case each. All the four cases from Busia are of truck drivers from Malaba POE.

Kiambu has four cases from Kiambaa, two cases and Kiambu North two. Kilifi has one case from Kaloleni, Nakuru, has one case from Naivasha, Nyamira, has one case from Nyamira South, Uasin Gishu, has one case from Turba of truck driver, Siaya, has one case from Alego Usonga and Muranga, one  case from Maragwa.

The government also disclosed that 32 patients have been discharged from various hospitals, bringing the tally of recoveries to 1,253. Unfortunately, three more patients have succumbed to the disease, bringing the total number of those who have succumbed to 103.