Wajir County has recorded its first case of coronavirus.
Health CAS Dr Rashid Aman on Thursday announced that after testing 777 samples from 14 counties, 12 people tested positive. The total cases in Kenya are now 396.
Mombasa had seven cases, Nairobi (3), Wajir (1) and Kitui (1). Nine of the patients are male and three are female.
On a brighter note, 15 recovered patients were discharged. This is the single-largest discharge ever made since the pandemic struck the country in March. A total of 144 patients have recovered so far.
Old town, Bondeni, Bomani Kuze, Kibokoni are among Mombasa’s most affected areas by the pandemic.
In Nairobi, the three cases were reported in Fedha estate, Eastleigh and Kileleshwa.
Dr Aman said that the 12 patients are aged between 1.5 to 75 years.
He stated that so far, the government has tested a total of 20,268 samples adding that “we are not out of the woods yet”.
On a sad note, he announced the death of two people from COVID-19 putting the total of coronavirus deaths in Kenya to 17.
This comes as another storm on utilization of funds sparks a fiery debate.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health issued a breakdown of how Ksh 1 billion donated by the World Bank to fight coronavirus has been used sparking uproar among Kenyans.
The government in the circular indicated that it used Sh42 million to lease ambulances, Sh4 million on tea and snacks and a further Sh2 million on airtime for staff among other things.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee has since sent a stern warning to the ministry’s accounting officers saying action will be taken against the should they misuse these funds.
It’s not far-fetched that government bureaucrats and accounting officers are inclined to take advantage of crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic to misuse public funds. Kenya’s history is replete with such cases,” PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi said on Thursday.
