Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

top
A health worker adjusts a mask on a colleague in Kenya.

Corona Virus

Kenya registers 17 New COVID-19 deaths and 1,091 infections

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 9- The Ministry of Health has reported 17 new COVID-19 deaths that occurred in the last one month, pushing fatalities in the country to 2,309.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said 1,605 more patients were admitted in various hospitals across the country among them 236 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Kagwe further said that 1,091 people tested positive for the virus from a sample size of 7,300 raising the total caseload to 144,154.

A two-month old infant and a granny aged 100 were among the new cases.

Kagwe said that 422,021 people had been vaccinated by April 9 among them 110,523 health care workers, 34,150 security officers, 59,906 teachers and 217,442 other citizens including those above 58 years of age.

In terms of gender, 238, 522 males have been vaccinated while 183,499 females have also received the jab.

On Thursday, Mo Ibrahim Foundation raised concern that there will be no end in sight in the fight against the COVID-19 crisis if Africa’s population is left out in the fight against the virus, especially in the global vaccination drive.

The organization founded by Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim noted that if ignored, the continent would provide room for the virus to continue to spread and mutate subsequently becoming the perfect incubator for COVID-19 variants.

It also decried Africa’s lack of involvement in the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and lack of leaders’ commitment to mobilize resources to fight the pandemic.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

As of April 8, the continent had reported 3.1 million coronavirus cases including 78,500 people who had succumbed .The continent’s death rate stands at 2.5 percent higher than the 2.2 percent global rate.

“It would be a fatal mistake to consider that the pandemic there is less severe, and thus “Africa can wait. We are still running far behind what is needed to ensure safety in Africa. Across the continent, vaccine accessibility is not only far below the efficacy threshold of 60% of the population,” the foundation said in a statement this week.

Globally, advances have been made in the production of COVID-19 vaccines, all produced outside Africa which depends on donations, supplies from the COVAX facility, and bilateral agreements.

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted as of 18 February 2021 that at least seven different vaccines across three platforms had been rolled out in countries with more than 200 additional vaccine candidates in development, of which more than 60 are in clinical development

With a population of 1.2 billion, only 23.6 million vaccines have been distributed (as of March 15) in Africa including 16 million supplied by COVAX and the rest supplied by donations, bilateral agreements.

 “This is barely 0.5 percent of current global vaccine distribution, while the continent represents more than 17 percent of the global population,” the foundation which was established in 2006 to promote Africa’ transformation noted.

10 African countries have remained out of the supply system.

On the other hand, countries like China with a population of 1.43 billion have inoculated 65 million of its citizens, more than 31 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine while in the United States of America, about 110 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

China is already shipping some of its vaccines to African countries, with Kenya recently accusing the UK and other vaccine producing countries of practicing what it termed as “vaccine apartheid.’

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

About The Author

Comments
Advertisement

More on Capital News

NATIONAL NEWS

NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 19 – Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has announced that the government has closed 6,931 bars near homes and schools. In...

NATIONAL NEWS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 – The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) has opened its application portal for the First Revision of...

Fifth Estate

Even though South Africa and eSwatini are among the more than two dozen African countries with a high burden of either tuberculosis (TB), drug-resistant...

NATIONAL NEWS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 – The Government has launched a nationwide vetting campaign targeting alcohol manufacturers as part of the ongoing efforts to address...

Top stories

Asphalt reinforcement grids play a pivotal role in this endeavour by assisting in load distribution, preventing reflective cracks, and increasing the load-bearing capacity of...

NATIONAL NEWS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 – President William Ruto has assented to the Affordable Housing law paving the way for the reinstatement of housing levy...

NATIONAL NEWS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 19 – The Ministry of Education has assured that the government will disburse the outstanding capitation funds owed to public secondary...

NATIONAL NEWS

Ruto who spoke in Narok on Monday during the funeral of Annah Tikui Noolparakuo, former Governor Samuel Tunai's mother, said those who frustrate the...