NAIROBI, Kenya July 16 – A record 570 COVID-19 patients have been cleared after recovery from COVID-19, the highest on a single day.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said 512 were receiving home-based care while 58 were admitted to various hospitals.
Eight fatalities were also recorded Thursday, raising the death toll so far since March to 217.
Kenya has so far cleared 3,638 coronavirus patients.
“I cannot thank the health care workers enough for what they are continuing to do in the movement towards the home-based care programme,” he said. Asymptomatic cases in Kenya are now refered back home for self-isolation and treatment.
The progarmme which is done under strict protocols by care givers accommodates asymptomatic patients and those that exhibit mild symptoms of the disease.
Kagwe stressed that the government was committed to giving the best health care services to patients who have contracted the disease.
“Freedom comes with responsibility and therefore what happens next is not the question of what the question does but the role played by individual citizens,” he said, and urged Kenyans to be more cautious following a surge in positive cases which hit 11,673 Thursday.
Kagwe said the surge in COVID-19 infections should not surprise Kenyans because it was expected.
He said the government had projected for an increase in positive cases in the country once the travel restrictions were listed on July 6.
“It should not shock Kenyans because we expected these numbers,” Kagwe said, “The release of people to go wherever they want in the country was not because we did not expect the number of infections to go up. For me and the ministry, we will continue to beg you that you stay alive, that is our job.”
There are fears that the government may re-introduce lockdowns in major cities like Nairobi, Mombasa and other major towns to manage the crisis even as a section of Governors threatened to impose restrictions in their counties.
Kenya had been on a partial lockdown for three months until July 6 when President Uhuru Kenyatta lifted travel restrictions for Nairobi, Mombasa and Mandera but left the night curfew and a ban on large gatherings and bars.
He is again expected to issue new directions on August 6.
“The escalation or de-escalation of measures is purely dependent on the behavior of Kenyans. It is not the government that will want to lockdown but it is purely on how the citizens behave,” Kagwe said.
