COVID-19 UPDATE: Kenya records 23 deaths in 24 hours as cases rise to 21,363.

A 16 year old patient is among 23 who succumbed to Covid-19 over the last 24 hours as the country reported an additional 727 new Covid-19 cases on August 1.

This now raised the total case load in the country to 21,363 cases since the pandemic was first reported in March 2020.

During the daily Covid-19 status briefing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe raised concerns of the risks the diseases poses to the young people with the country’s fatalities rising to 364.

“We are increasingly seeing younger people passing away. People should stop socializing and gathering,” the CS advised.

254 patients have however recovered from the disease bringing the total number of recoveries to 8,419, with 88 being discharged from the home-based care while 166 were discharged from various health facilities.

According to CS Mutahi, Nairobi remains a hotspot with Kirinyaga also a county where infection rate is rapidly rising.

In addition, he noted that Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado require strategic support as they are overloaded.

“…We have Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado; they are part of the Nairobi Metropolis. We will be treating these three counties as part of the strategic support beneficiaries. We gave PPEs to Kiambu County yesterday (Friday). Kiambu is in that state and needs national government support due to the number of deaths and cases,” the CS stated

On his part, Transport CS James Macharia announced that several flights had already left the country to London, Heathrow, Dubai, Addis Ababa, Kigali and Dakar, Senegal. He added that the Kenya Airways, British Airways, KLM from Amsterdam were expected to arrive in the country tonight.

Kagwe also urged Kenyans to avoid unnecessary travel even as resumption of flights begun.

“I appeal to port health officers to undertake the duty with respect and concern. We must find a way of resuming economic activities knowing Coovid-19 is here with us,” he stated.