Kenya reports 15 coronavirus deaths, nearly 570 infections

ANKARA (AA) - Kenya reported 15 new coronavirus-related deaths and 568 new infections on Friday after conducting 9,029 tests in the last 24 hours.

The Health Ministry said the nation of almost 55 million has recorded a total of 2,865 deaths and 162,666 infections from conducting 1.71 million tests.

It registered 173 new recoveries from the virus, bringing the number of confirmed recoveries to 110,653.

“A total of 1,086 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 6,381 patients are on Home Based Isolation and Care. [One hundred and thirty-one] patients are in the ICU, 28 of whom are on ventilatory support and 83 on supplemental oxygen.[Twenty] patients are on observation,” it said.

Regarding its ongoing vaccination campaign, the ministry said that as of Friday, 911,515 people have been vaccinated, including 531,540 people aged 58 years and older, 160,468 health workers, 142,624 teachers and 76,578 security officers.

The ministry confirmed on Wednesday that it recorded five cases of the Indian variant of the virus.

The ministry’s Acting Director-General Patrick Amoth told reporters that five cases involving Indian nationals were imported last week before Kenya 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.

The update on Friday did not disclose whether the new cases include the Indian variant.