Kenya records 25 more COVID-19 deaths, over 700 infections

ANKARA (AA) - Kenya on Thursday confirmed 25 new coronavirus-related deaths and 705 new infections after conducting 8,853 tests across the country in the last 24 hours.

According to the Health Ministry, the country of almost 55 million people has so far recorded 2,850 deaths, 162,098 infections, and 110,480 recoveries.

Regarding the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the East African country, the ministry said as of Thursday a total of 906,746 people have been vaccinated across the country.

Those vaccinated include 528,615 people aged 58 years and above, 159,982 health workers, 141,571 teachers, and 76,578 security officers, according to the ministry.

On Wednesday, the ministry confirmed it had recorded five cases of the Indian variant in the country.

Patrick Amoth, the ministry’s acting director-general, told reporters that those five cases involving Indian nationals had been imported into the country last week before the country banned flights to and from India.

“We picked this from a sample of Indian travelers who are doing some work in the western part of Kisumu. Health teams are doing contact tracing,” he said.

On Saturday, President Uhuru Kenyatta praised healthcare workers for their role in the fight against COVID-19 as the rate of infections in the country fell.

He also announced lifting partial lockdown measures imposed last month to curb the spread of the virus.

Restaurants, bars, schools, and religious services will now reopen, Kenyatta said, encouraging employers and businesses to allow employees to work from home.