Kenya's Covid-19 Cases Rise to 172 As 14 More People Test Positive

The total number of coronavirus infections in Kenya has risen to 172 after the Health Ministry announced the confirmation of 14 new cases.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, in a Covid-19 update on Tuesday, said 12 of the new patients are Kenyans and two are foreign nationals.

In addition, four out of the 14 cases were found to have recently traveled from Tanzania, South Africa, UAE, and the United States while 10 got infected locally.

Out of the 14 cases, seven were recorded in Nairobi, two in Mombasa, two in Mandera while Machakos, Kisii and Kiambu Counties registered one patient each. The two cases from Mandera are reported to have recently traveled to Mombasa.

“That explains why the decision by the President was taken to close some of the areas where we feel the movement is causing the spread of the virus,” said CS Kagwe, adding that Kenyans should prepare for the worst.

“The mortality rate for us has been quite low but this is no reason for us to be relaxed at all. We are praying and hoping for the best but clearly, we must also prepare for the worst and mentally we must prepare ourselves to face an insurmountable situation.” 

The 14 cases were detected from 696 samples tested in the past 24 hours, Kagwe added. So far, four patients have fully recovered from the disease while six, including a 6-year-old boy, have died.