NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13- Kenya’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 164,720 after 334 new cases were recorded on Thursday, when 18 more people succumbed.
The new cases, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said, were detected from a sample size of 4,155 tested across the country.
the death oll rose to 2,968.
Of those, 3 died in the last 24 hours while 15 others were reported late.
A further 124 patients have recovered from the disease, raising the total recoveries to 113, 248.
Kagwe said Kenya had vaccinated 930,460 people against the disease by May 13.
On Wednesday, Kagwe said the government was working with the African Union (AU) to secure 30 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, that will cover at least 60 percent of the country’s adult population.
He said once acquired and people are vaccinated, the country will be able to attain sufficient immunity within a year.
Kagwe said the government was also seeking to strike a deal to have some more vaccines from Pfizer.
The Health Cabinet Secretary has assured that the over 900,000 people who have already received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, will get their 2nd dose from the first week of June.
Kenya acquired the initial 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax facility and is hoping for more, despite delays due to the crisis in India which is experienced the worst infection and death rate fro the pandemic lately.
“Even as we remain hopeful of the shipment of the 2nd dose through the Covax mechanism, we are pursuing other avenues to ensure that this will happen,” Kagwe said.
