Kenya continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic with cases steadily rising each day. Government have locked down a handful of counties including the capital Nairobi and imposed a night-time curfew as part of containment efforts.
This rolling page will continue to give updates on major occurrences as relates to the East African country. You can follow Kenya’s March – April 2020 COVID-19 updates on our earlier page.
Kenya as of May 10 was the fourth most impacted country in the East / Horn of Africa region only behind Djibouti, Sudan and Somalia. Government also rolled out mass testing in virus hot spots, borders remain shut and a ban on public gatherings continues.
July 17: 12,062 cases; home based care progressing
The Health Ministry confirmed that Kenya’s caseload passed 12,000 hitting 12,062 cumulative positive cases. There were 389 new cases out of a sample of 3,545 tested in the past 24 hours.
“We want to focus on targeted mass testing. Home based care is the best way for us to manage the virus We want to roll-out training even to family members for people to be managed better by their families;” CS Mutahi Kagwe said.
In respect of recoveries, 345 people were discharged, 134 from hospitals and 211 from home based care. “So far no one has died from the virus from the home based care program;” Patrick Amoth, acting Director General of Health Services added.
#KomeshaCorona update pic.twitter.com/ZfmEjJwSe5— Ministry of Health (@MOH_Kenya) July 17, 2020
July 15: 10,791 cases; KQ resumes local operations
After 99 days, the state carrier’s first commercial passenger flight took off from the capital Nairobi to Mombasa. The KQ602 took off with each passenger wearing a face mask and observing physical distancing from the formalities through to the boarding.
Another flight, KQ655 also flew to Kisumu. Upon touch down in Kisumu;, present to meet the arriving flight was Governor of Kisumu Anyang Nyongo and other stakeholders.
The carrier was one of the most impacted African fliers during the pandemic. Most passenger aircrafts were converted into cargo flights to transport essential supplies and cross-continental produce.
Recoveries as at close of day July 14 has crossed the 3,000 mark. The total recoveries stood at 3,017 whiles deaths also reached 202. The caseload is now at 10,791; the highest in the East and Horn of Africa region.
Confirmed cases = 10,791
Active cases = 7,572
Recoveries = 3,017
Number of deaths = 202
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 14, 2020
The moment #KQ602 was off chocks from Nairobi to Mombasa as we resume domestic passenger flights today. #TheMagicAwaits #KQClearForTakeOff pic.twitter.com/u8×7DAK9Lg— Kenya Airways (@KenyaAirways) July 15, 2020
July 12: 10,294 cases; record 12 deaths in a day
Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe today confirmed 189 new Covid-19 cases out of a total of 1,205 samples in the last 24 hours. Kenya’s caseload now stands at 10,294. The 10,000 mark was reached on Sunday, July 12.
The country also recorded highest number of