NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 23-Kenya’s COVID-19 positivity rate settled at 5.2 per cent Thursday, after the Ministry of Health reported 317 new virus cases.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said there were 27 more virus-linked deaths, all of them reported late after health facility audits in the months of June, July, August and September. This raised fatalities in the country to 5,045.
Kagwe said that 1,268 patients were admitted to various health facilities while 2,733 were under the home care program, with 96 others at the Intensive Care Unit.
By September 23, Kenya had vaccinated more than 3.5 million people.
The Ministry of Health has announced plans to start deploying the Pfizer vaccine from next week.
Pfizer from the US and China’s Sinopharm arrived in the country last week, boosting the ongoing vaccination exercise alongside AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
The government has continued to intensify the vaccination exercise, with the plan to vaccinate 10 million adults by end of December still on course.
As part of measures to achieve the vaccination target, the Chairman of the National Vaccine Task Force Dr. Willis Akhwale last week said the government intends to double the vaccination rates from 40,000 a day to 80,000.
Akhwale also said the government had adjusted the vaccination priority age group to start from 50 years.
