NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 20 – The number of positive cases for COVID-19 rose to 281 Monday after 11 new cases were confirmed.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said 7 of them are from Mombasa, while 4 are in Ruaka in the outskirts of Nairobi.
“None have a recent history of travel,” Kagwe said. Five are females while six are male.
“Seven are from our quarantine centres and four were picked up by our surveilance teams from various parts of the country,” Kagwe said, and announced that a doctor was among two people who had recovered from the virus.
“We now have a totral of 69 people who have recovered,” he said, at a regular media briefing on the status of COVID-19.
Kenya had lost 14 people to the virus by April 20.
And to prevent the spread of the virus, the government is implementing a national curfew, and cessation of movement in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi counties–all with the highest number of positive cases.
But most people have continued to defy the curfew order, prompting the government to start taking anyone found outside to quarantine centres.
On Monday, Kagwe said security forces were working closely with public health officials, to ensure anyone found outside after the curfew hours is taken in for quarantine, and had already isolated 455 countrywide.
“Once you are out during curfew hours, it is assumed that you have been exposed to the disease,” the CS warned.
Kagwe said the government had designated 33 active quarantine facilities across the country.
He said the focus had now shifted to protecting those on the frontline, as mass testing kicks off in various parts of the country.
“Our success on treatment is highly dependent on our ability to protect our health workers,” he told a regular news briefing from the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
So far, he said, the government has distributed 4,759 personal protection kits and 237 assorted components like N95 and surgical masks, among others.
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