NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 11 – ODM leader Raila Odinga has tested positive for COVID-19, after an extensive tour of the coast region last week.
His personal doctor David Olunya said the former Prime Minister is upbeat and doctors will continue to monitor his progress.
“We have confirmed that Rt. Hon Raila Odinga has SARS-2 COVID-19,” Raila’s doctor, “He is respondng well to treatment he is receiving at The Nairobi Hospital and remains upbeat. We are continuing to monitor his progress.”
Odinga was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital on Tuesday in what his brother Oburu Odinga initially said was just general fatigue.
His doctor however, said several tests had been undertaken including COVID-19 whose results came out this evening.
Raila tested positve a day to the much awaited announcement by President Uhuru Kenyatta on the fate of the COVID-19 containmnent measures.
Kenya was staring at possible new tough measures or an extension of the existing protocols following the increased infections.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned that the country was in the thick of the third wave of the pandemic, with 829 new cases detected. The highest on a single day.
Thursday’s new infections were the highest in the country since November last year.
As a result, Kagwe said, all Intensive Care Unit hospital beds in Nairobi County hospitals were full, with reports indicating a similar situation elsewhere in the country.
The coutry recorded the highest number of COVID-19 fatalities Wednesday whe 12 patients succumbed to the virus.
He called on Kenyans to continue adhering to the COVID-19 protocols even as the vaccination exercise continues.
“I know this time round, people are tired, I am tired as well, people are strained and the virus has taken a toll on us and it is at this time when we feel the way we do that we can let our guard down, adopt a don’t care attitude but then we will be hit hardest,” Kagwe said.
Kenya is still enforcing the COVID-19 protocols including a dusk to dawn curfew that ends on Friday.
