Kenya is recording a rise in coronavirus cases, the Chief Administrative Secretary for Health Dr. Mercy Mwangangi announced today after confirming that 15 persons have tested positive for Coronavirus disease in the last 24 hours.

 This now brings the number of confirmed cases in the country to 296 even as the globe cases stand in excess of 2.5 million, with 653,000 recoveries and 170,000 deaths. 

The CAS disclosed that out of the 15 cases, 11 are Kenyans while four are foreign nationals,  seven are males and eight are females. In addition, seven are from Mombasa, six from Nairobi and two from Mandera County. None of the cases have a recent history of travel, and the age group is between 10 and 75 years. s

 Only six out of the confirmed cases are from our quarantine centers and nine were picked up by surveillance teams. “This is a clear indication that the infection is increasingly growing within communities and therefore very critical that we strictly observe the containment measures,” she advised.

The CAS also revealed that  five patients have recovered and have been discharged bringing the total number of recoveries to 74. So far  a total of 14,417 samples have been tested,  2,851 contacts have been monitored,  out of which 2,121 have been discharged and  730 contacts are being followed at the moment.

 “We have ramped up our capacity in four pillar testing, isolating, treating and tracing, that can only become applicable when preventive measures of hand washing social distancing and general hygiene and quarantine have failed. We do not want to get there. I therefore want to urge all  people to continue observing these simple, but very effective containment measures,” she said.

As we continue in this fight, we note that there are some of us who continue to disobey the measures and regulations announced by the Government and I would like to remind you that we are in a war situation, against an enemy that is not a respecter of age, status, gender, race or religion, she noted and cautioned  young people who deliberately break curfew regulations due to the false belief that they cannot catch this disease.

She also also cautioned that surfaces that include groceries in supermarkets are likely to be contaminated and aid in the transmission of the virus especially cashiers handling goods when payment is being done at the counter. She urged the Supermarkets and also banks to devise innovative ways to address the matter.

The CAS also thanked all  individuals and corporates who have so far contributed to this containment effort particularly the Kenya Air force  who have deployed two aircrafts flying banners with the message to ‘stay at home’ and to thank our healthcare workers for their effort.

“I also want to thank the Kenya Editors Guild together with Kenya Medical Association and Association of Nurses for initiating a campaign dubbed ‘Saa Sita,’ to stop and clap for the healthcare worker at midday every Wednesday,”

She also acknowledged the contribution of mobile network providers for their contribution to the national covid-19 campaign effort.“ Safaricom, through its foundation, and on top of other donations made so far, has further contributed thermal cameras worth Ksh. 10 million to expand our screening capability,” she said .

Additionally, Dr. Mwangangi  added  that Safaricom is considering supporting  healthcare workers with a free communication package that will include 3 months’ internet bundles and airtime.