NAIROBI, Kenya August 4 – Six more people succumbed to COVID-19 within 24 hours leading to Thursday raising the country’s death toll to 388.
The toll reported by the health ministry represented a case fatality rate of 1.8 per cent.
Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman said three of the six deaths, were linked to stomach cancer, hypertension and diabetes which have been cited as leading triggers for coronavirus-related deaths in the country.
All the deceased were based in hospitals located in Nairobi and Kiambu counties. They were aged 73, 71, 60, 52, 40 and 34.
The deaths were reported at Tigoni Level IV (Gatundu South), Kiambu Level V (Kiambu), Avenue Hospital (Embakasi) and three community hospitals located in Ruiru and Kabete.
Health care workers represent 3.1 percent of the 23,202 cumulative cases documented since March, health proffesionals accounting for 723 cases.
The health ministry noted that as of Monday (August 3), the number of healthcare workers who had succumbed to coronavirus in the country were eight after a nurse died in Kisii County.
The first medical doctor to succumb to the virus was Dr Doreen Lugaliki.
The rising infections and deaths of health care workers have raised concerns among the Kenya National Union of Nurses (KNUN) and Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) who are now urging government to provide them with risk allowance.
During the regular briefing on the status of the pandemic on Tuesday, Aman also said 587 COVID-19 patients had been cleared within 24 hours, including 500 under home-based care, after having fully recovered.
The number of recoveries rose to 9,327.
The health ministry further announced 605 new COVID-19 cases from a sample size of 4,547 people tested within 24 hours.
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