NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 4 – Four patients have succumbed to COVID-19 on raising the country’s death toll to 78, the health ministry announced on Thursday.
With the four newly reported deaths, the country’s case fatality rate now stands at 3.3 per cent marginally lower than 3.4 per cent reported in May.
Kenya reported the highest case fatality rate, 5.1 per cent, in April with slightly over 20 deaths reported at the time.
Most of the patients who have succumbed to the virus have had underlying conditions according to the health ministry.
Kenya’s first fatality was recorded from a 66-year- old patient who was suffering from diabetes. The deceased had arrived in the country from South Africa via Swaziland on March 13.
The World Health Organization classifies individuals with underlying conditions and those aged 50 and above are the most vulnerable.
Kenya has however recorded an infant death with the youngest yet death to be reported being a 6-year-old who died on April 6.
During a press conference on the status of the pandemic in the country on Thursday, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe however said 39 individuals who were placed under treatment in different isolation centers on contracting the viral disease had recovered from the disease and discharged.
“We are also happy today that we have discharged 39 patients from various health facilities bringing our total number of recoveries to 592, we want to pray we get more of those,” the CS stated.
Overall, the country has reported 2,340 COVID-19 cases after 124 new infections were reported from 2,640 samples analyzed within a period of 24 hours.
Mombasa accounts for the lion’s share of the newly detected infections at 40, followed by Nairobi (38), Busia (26), Kajiado (6), Kiambu (3), Garissa (2), Taita Taveta (2), Muranga and Elgeyo Marakwet (1).
The 40 cases in Mombasa were reported in Mvita (14), Kisauni (11), Changamwe (6), Jomvu and Nyali (1).
“The positive cases include 119 Kenyans, 2 Somalis, 2 Tanzanians, and one Eritrean national,” Kagwe said during the daily COVID-19 briefing.
Kagwe said the cases include 119 Kenyans, 2 Somalis, 2 Tanzanians and an Eritrean.
Globally, coronavirus has claimed over 380,000 lives with the figure of those infected standing at 6.5 million.
