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Kenya’s coronavirus tally jumps to 320 with 17 new cases – VIDEO

April 23rd, 2020 1 min read

Kenya’s coronavirus cases jumped to 320 on Thursday after the Ministry of Health announced 17 new cases.

In addition, Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi said six people have been discharged in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 89.

The Ministry of Health said a total of 668 samples had been tested, out of which 478 were taken from Nairobi.

Of the new cases, 12 are from Mombasa which registered the highest single-day and five are from Nairobi and were picked by the ministry’s surveillance team.

However, Dr Mwangangi stated that Nairobi remains the county with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country.

Two of the cases are from tests carried out at the designated quarantine centres.

The CAS said there is a worrying trend of Kenyans over-relying on hand sanitisers instead of washing hands with water and soap.

“We have noticed a worrying over-reliance on sanitizers while sanitizers are effective, soap and running water is the best for fighting this disease. People must, therefore, start prioritizing washing hands and only sanitize in conditions where sanitizing will be useful,” said Dr Mwangangi.

She said that contracting coronavirus is not a crime, as all of us have a potential risk of contracting the disease, adding that being quarantined was neither detention nor punishment for it was meant to serve the greater public good.

She noted that curfew and travel restrictions had yielded results in the fight against the pandemic and urged Kenyans not to stigmatise those in quarantine and those who have recovered from the virus.

“Quarantine facilities should not be looked at as prisons,” she warned.

She said different stakeholders are being engaged to help find a way to assist those unable to pay the bills needed to secure their release from quarantine facilities.