Encouraging data during the weekend just spent in Kenya.
In two days there were the lowest number of deaths in 48 hours of the last 40 days, i.e. since the reopening of all activities and the reduction of many restrictive measures.
Only 11 deaths between Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th November, in a month that at certain times made people fear for a second wave more vehement than the first. The total rises accordingly to 1,452 people, while the total number of cases in the country since the beginning of the pandemic is 83,316 positive.
The new positives in two days were 1,660 out of 14,983 swabs performed, a good number considering the weekend and the daily average in the country. This brings the percentage down to 11%, another figure that allows cautious optimism.
850 patients were declared cured and discharged from hospital or permanently exempted from home care.
There are currently 1,262 patients admitted to various healthcare facilities throughout the country, while 7,806 are in isolation and home care.
68 patients are in intensive care (ICU), 42 of whom are under assisted ventilation and 24 in intensive care with supplementary oxygen.
A further 96 patients are undergoing supplementary oxygen treatment separately, 73 of whom are in general wards, 23 are in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).
In the meantime, the Kenyan government is asking its citizens not to move from big cities during the Christmas holidays, so as not to take the possibility of transmitting the virus everywhere. In Kenya 90% of those infected are asymptomatic so it is estimated that there could be about 5 million Covid-19 positives on the loose.
"If you are in cities like Nairobi, Mombasa or Nakuru or other important towns, stay home and celebrate Christmas with your family if possible," said Devolution Minister Eugene Wamalwa, "because if you travel, Covid-19 cases are bound to increase during the Christmas period.
The country hopes to be able to resume a sort of normal life definitively in January, with the reopening of the school and perhaps even the end of the curfew which has now lasted 9 months.