Kenya health officials have urged citizens to wear masks in all indoor public settings as the country approaches high-risk COVID-19 alert status.
Dr. Francis Kuria, the Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, said the country’s positivity rate has been on a rise since the start of May hitting a high of 5.6 percent and averaging at 3.3 percent weekly reported The East African.
“We are urging Kenyans to have their masks on. We are worried that the Covid-19 numbers are going up,” Dr. Kuria said.
On Friday, the ministry said the Covid-19 positivity rate had climbed sharply to 5 percent after 150 people tested positive for the disease, from a sample size of 2,999 tested in the last 24 hours.
“No patient is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), none is on supplemental oxygen and no patient is in the High Dependency Unit (HDU)” said health cabinet secretary Mutahi Kagwe in a statement.
Currently, the ministry of health in partnership with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, WHO, USAID, and UNICEF has launched an accelerated Covid-19 vaccination campaign targeting Nairobi County.
Kenya’s capital Nairobi has recorded the highest number of cases at 120, followed by Nakuru at 11, Kiambu 10, Kilifi 3, Siaya 2, Kirinyaga, Kisumu, Kwale, and Nyeri a case each as of Friday.
According to Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache, the accelerated campaign targets to have at least 70 percent of the population in Nairobi vaccinated in the next six weeks with the region posing a threat of another pandemic wave owing to its high population density.
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