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.
June 19: 13,353 cases; Nairobi records 1,200+ cases in 3 days
Kenya’s caseload passed the 13,000 mark reaching 13,353 after 603 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, the health ministry disclosed at the daily virus briefing.
The capital Nairobi accounts for about half of the entire case load. Nairobi Country recorded over 1,200 cases in the last three days only as Kenya extends its lead as the most impacted country in the East and Horn of Africa region.
June 19 – 441 cases out of 603 new cases
June 18 – 537 cases out of 688 new cases
June 17 – 270 cases out of 389 new cases
Today we have recorded another high of 603 positive cases from a sample size of 5, 724 tested in the last 24 hours. We now have 13,353 confirmed positive cases, while our cumulative sample tested has risen to 243,887.#komeshacorona— Ministry of Health (@MOH_Kenya) July 19, 2020
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.