NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 8 – Kenya recorded 699 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, raising the caseload to 25,837 even as fatalities rose to 418.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said 11, 899 patients had recovered after 781 more were cleared of the virus.
He said 656 were on the home-based care programme while 125 were discharged from various hospitals countrywide.
“We are very proud of Kenyans because of the success that we have experienced with the home-based care programme and to date we have not registered any fatality under the programme,” he said.
“This virus is spreading among the communities so we must all be very careful and follow the protocols issued,” he said, on a tour of Kakamega County, “we have 699 new cases today.”
“675 are Kenyans while 24 are foreigners. 427 are male and 272 are female,” he said.
Nearly 350, 000 samples have been tested to date since the first case of the virus was reported in the country in March. Fatalities from the virus also rose to 418 after 5 more patients succumbed.
“It is not necessary for us to be insulted for telling people again and again but we will not stop. It is better to be bored with the figures than to be bored for three weeks staring at the ceiling of a hospital bed,” he said.
When diagnosed with the disease, Kagwe stressed that the medics advise should be followed strictly, insisting that one should isolate so as not to infect other people.
He cited a case where a young man in an unnamed county refused to self isolate and follow the health protocols, consequently ended up infecting both his parents.
“It is very unfortunate because we keep warning against such kind of behaviour,” he said.