Mombasa continues to register a high number of COVID-19 cases.
On Thursday, Dr Mercy Mwangangi, CAS Health Ministry indicated that Kenya has an additional 17 cases, 12 of which are from Mombasa. The total tally of COVID-19 cases is 320.
All the new 17 cases are Kenyans. Five of them are from Nairobi. 15 of them were picked by surveillance teams on the ground while the other three were from quarantine facilities.
The 17 are eight females and nine males who were part of 668 samples tested in the last 24 hours.
The good news is that that six more patients have been discharged putting the tally of discharged patients at 89.
The Health Ministry says that local transmission has increased.
“Indeed local transmission has been established,” Dr Mwangangi said.
The CAS also delved into the thorny issue of Kenyans escaping quarantine facilities saying that they are meant to protect everyone from the virus and should not be perceived as prisons.
This comes after a dozen people escaped a KTC quarantine facility in Nairobi on Tuesday. Three of them have been arrested so far.
Two of them were arrested in Kasarani where they were holed up drinking while the third person was arrested in Kericho County on Thursday afternoon.
They have been returned to quarantine centres. This is even as the government plans to stay on track in testing over 250, people by June.
The Nairobi Hospital has rolled out COVID-19 testing for Ksh10,000. It is the third private entity to carry out the test in Kenya after Lancet Kenya and the Aga Khan University Hospital.
The hospital’s chief operating officer, Dr Allan Pamba said the results will be released within 24 hours after testing.
“Clients will be allowed to go home after sampling and results will be emailed to them. For positive results, the patient will be informed of their status by their doctor and followed up by the Ministry of Health for isolation at a facility of their choice and contact tracing,” he stated.
