Another 51 cases in Kenya in the last 24 hours bring the number of infections in the country to 963 from March 13 to today.
These are the first numbers of the pandemic bulletin transmitted yesterday afternoon by the Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe at the usual daily press conference in Afy House, home of the ministry in Nairobi.
Kagwe pointed out that 1993 swabs were carried out and 22 people were declared cured and discharged, bringing the total number of healings from Covid-19 to 358.
The Minister also revealed that no one had lost their lives to the virus, so the number of deaths in the country had stopped at 50.
Of the confirmed cases, 19 are female and 32 are male, aged between 2 and 63 years.
Kagwe noted that most infections were caused by people between 20 and 39 years of age, with 62% of infections being male and 38% female.
"Asymptomatic citizens are like mosquitoes," Kagwe said, "they carry the virus and infect other people. I want to particularly urge young people to protect themselves from the virus, to stay in contact with those around them as little as possible".
Kagwe also confirmed that the Ministry is increasing testing capacity in laboratories across the country in an attempt to increase capacity.
"The country cannot move and test every individual," he said, "so we've prepared swabs in coronavirus outbreaks, urging all residents of those areas to come in for swabs.
16 of the cases confirmed yesterday came from Namanga, the busiest entry point from Tanzania to Kenya, one from Oloitoktok where 5 truckers tested positive and were sent back to Tanzania. Garissa recorded 2 other positive cases, which had entered the country from nearby Somalia.
The Health Minister thanked the leaders of the "Nyumba Kumi" groups who helped the ministry to locate the suspected Covid-19 cases in the country and urged them to intensify their efforts to contain the virus.
Kagwe revealed that during the pandemic, 224 truckers tested positive for the virus at border points, 182 of them foreigners, who were denied entry into the country.
"the government has also organized other mobile buffer centres in other customs posts in the country," he added, also citing as the latest "dry port" of Naivasha, a loading and unloading area for goods from Mombasa.
Mombasa, according to the Minister, is the area of greatest concern, especially the district of the historic center. While praising the efforts of Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho in the fight against the pandemic in the region, he confirmed that Mombasa is the county that has recorded more deaths of Covid-19 than any other in the country, despite having almost 100 fewer cases than Nairobi. There are 27, compared to 20 in Nairobi, plus Siaya, Bomet and Kiambu who have one each.
"For this reason we have explained that people should not be kept at home - Kagwe concluded - The deaths on the rise in Mombasa are essentially people who die at home. I would recommend everyone, if people are not feeling well, to take them to the hospital".