Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Mercy Mwangangi on Wednesday, April 8 addressed the daily press briefing on Covid-19, announcing that cases of the virus in Kenya had risen to 179 after seven more cases were confirmed.
Mwangangi revealed that 305 samples had been tested in the past 24 hours, seven of which returned positive results.
Of the seven new cases, four are female and three are male. Four of them have a history of recent travel with one having travelled from Congo, another from the United Kingdom and two from the United States.
All of the seven new cases are Kenyan citizens, with five from Nairobi, one from Mombasa and one from Uasin Gishu County.
Of the 179 confirmed cases in the country, Mwangangi revealed that only one was in critical care with the condition of the remaining 178 described as mild to moderate.
She disclosed that one Kenyan patient who was in critical care had been discharged to the general ward and taken off ventilators on Wednesday, April 8.
"We do have one piece of good news. One of the patients who was in critical care in one of the private facilities in the country has been discharged to the general ward today.
"This is a Kenyan who was in critical care who was on ventilator support, he has now been taken off ventilator support and we celebrate the doctors who have been aiding in his recovery.
"Two additional cases have been discharged in the last twenty four hours," she asserted.
Mwangangi also broke down the 179 cases confirmed so far by age; revealing that there were 3 patients aged below 15 years, 49 aged between 15 and 29 years, 114 aged between 30 and 59 years, and 16 patients aged above 60 years old.
She revealed that the government would hire 500 more doctors to join other medical workers on the front-lines in the battle against the pandemic.
Mwangangi also asserted that, in line with the Public Health Act, all private testing facilities were required to share their results with the Ministry of Health.
She further announced a new partnership with Safaricom that would see the government use hundreds of thousands of M-Pesa agents around the country for logistics and distribution.
In addition, she shared a new directive requiring those working in barbershop and salons to wear face masks when attending to clients and to provide hand sanitizer.
"This disease has shown itself to be blind to our creed, our colour, our status, our age, or dare I say, our height," she stated as she reiterated calls for a 'one-for-all' approach to combating the virus.
The CAS also clarified media reports that Kenyans would have to bury their dead within 24 hours or be required to do so in Nairobi due to the partial lock-down restricting movement in and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan area.
Mwangangi stated that those who need to bury their dead would be able to get a special pass from the Ministry of Interior that would allow them to travel if necessary.
"Through the Ministry of Interior, get your documents which include a death certificate and you will get a pass to enable you to travel and perform last rites," she advised.
Mwangangi also announced that they were developing home-based care protocols to be used by Covid-19 patients displaying mild symptoms.
She revealed that the protocols were being validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and would be made public in due course.
