COVID-19 UPDATE: Kenya hits 12000 mark in confirmed cases as 211 from home based care are discharged.

Kenya has hit the 12,000 mark confirmed Covid-19 cases after the Ministry of Health reported 389 additional new cases on Friday July 17.

This now raises the total case load in the country to 12,062.

During the daily Covid-19 status briefing which was in Muranga County, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe stated that of the 389 cases, 260 are male and 129 are females with the youngest being a 5 months infant and the oldest being 95 years.

Unfortunately 5 more people succumbed to the disease raising the total number of fatalities in the country to 222.

During his Muranga County tour, CS Kagwe assessed the county’s preparedness in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kagwe also announced that the government would set up an Integrated Molecular Centre at the Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital.

The center will be the first molecular imaging center in the country as well as in the East and Central region and will be ready for use in nine months.

“There will be no need for Kenyans to go to India or South Africa to access pep can machines and other key equipment to diagnose and treat cancer,” the CS stated.

Kagwe also stated that the government is looking to train family members on how to manage Covid-19 patients, to help ease the burden on the hospitals as they embark on a targeted mass testing campaign.

“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 Kagwe stated.

Kagwe was flanked by the Ministry and county government officials during his tour, where he launched an ultra-modern outpatient block at the Kiriaini Mission Hospital.

Acting Health DG Patrick Amoth who was with CS Mutahi Kagwe stated that 211 patients have been discharged from home based care, noting that no deaths have been recorded from home based care program.

“Today we have discharged 345 people, 134 from hospitals and 211 from home based care. So far no one has died from the virus from the home based care program”, noted Amoth.