Kenya confirms 5 more COVID deaths, almost 500 infections in last 24 hours

ANKARA (AA) - Kenya on Thursday confirmed five new COVID-19-related deaths and 494 new infections after doing 6,428 COVID-19 tests across the country in the last 24 hours.

The new deaths bring the total number of confirmed fatalities from COVID-19 in Kenya to 3,040 and the number of confirmed infections to 166,876 after doing 1.76 million COVID-19 tests since last year, according to a Health Ministry update.

Fifty recoveries from the virus were confirmed Thursday, and total recoveries now stand at 114,285, including 83,081 from home-based care and isolation, and some 31,204 from various health facilities, the ministry added.

In the country’s vaccination campaign, it said as of Thursday, 948,980 people have gotten the jab nationwide, including 288,146 people 58 or older, 163,490 healthcare workers, 149,018 teachers, 80,153 security officers, and 268,173 people in various classifications.

Kenya's population numbers some 55 million.

Kenya and other East African countries are running out of stocks after India banned exports of COVID-19 vaccines, causing panic, as many countries were looking to India for vaccine supplies.

Kenya says it is now focused on acquiring the Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson vaccines for more vaccinations.

On March 3 the Kenyan government got 1.02 million doses of the Covishield vaccine and began giving shots.

Earlier this month, the country's Health Ministry confirmed that it has seen five cases of the Indian variant of the virus.