389 individuals have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours bringing the total number of cases in Kenya to 12,062.
During the daily Covid-19 briefing at Murang'a on Friday, July 17, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe announced that 3,545 samples had been tested over the same period bringing the total samples tested so far to 233,641.
Of the 389 cases tested, 260 are male and 129 are female while the youngest case is a five-month-old infant while the oldest is aged 95 years.
345 patients had been discharged, 311 from hospitals and 134 from home-based care. So far, the ministry informed, no one has died from the virus from the home-based care program.
Unfortunately, the CS announced that five more individuals had succumbed to the disease, bringing the total number of fatalities to 222. Four of the fatalities had underlying conditions.
Kagwe also announced that the government would set up an Integrated Molecular Centre at the Kenyatta University Teaching and Referal Hospital.
The centre will be the first molecular imaging center in the country as well as in the East and Central Africa 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 scan machines and other key equipment to diagnose and treat cancer," the CS stated.
Kagwe announced that the Kenyan government had also sought services of 20 Cuban doctors in managing the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
In doing this, Kagwe stated that doctors from both Kenya and Cuba, would learn from each other.
"The doctors will arrive in the country on Thursday night and will be stationed at the Kenyatta University Hospital for 6 months," Kagwe noted.
