Health CS Mutahi Kagwe in the daily press briefing on Covid-19 on Wednesday, April 22, announced that confirmed cases of the virus in the country had risen to 303.
Seven more cases were confirmed, with 707 samples tested in the past twenty-four hours.
All seven cases were Kenyans.
He noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) projections of millions of infections in Africa was probable considering how the cases multiplied in Somalia and Tanzania.
He further announced that the country had acquired 25,000 mass testing kits and the state was targeting to test 250,000 people by the end of June.
“The government has today directed restriction of movement inside and out of Mandera County,” announced Kagwe after the total cases in the county rose to 8.
When he appeared on national TV, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth was hard-pressed to explain why a patient in Homa Bay County had been hospitalized yet he wasn’t receiving any treatment for coronavirus.
This question was raised after a video of the patient identified as Kevin Aura went viral on social media, claiming he was healthy despite the Ministry of Health insists that he had tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr. Amoth explained that Mr. Aura was rightly admitted because samples taken from him for Covid-19 came back positive.
“Kevin is case number 257, and he’s not being treated because he doesn’t display symptoms. The test was done in Kemri Kisumu and turned positive,” Dr. Amoth.
ASYMPTOMATIC
Mr. Aura, 26, is one of the patients considered to be asymptomatic, who now account for almost half of the confirmed cases in Kenya.
As daily numbers of confirmed cases rise, the ministry says there is evidence of asymptomatic cases, sparking fear of unwitting community transmission. Being asymptomatic means that you have no symptoms and therefore require no treatment.
“Fifty-six percent of the 281 cases are asymptomatic, but are being isolated as the ministry waits for the virus to pass on during the 14 days in a process known as viral shedding,” Dr. Amoth added.
Globally, studies published have found that asymptomatic cases account for between five percent and 80 percent of people testing positive for the virus. But screening misses these people because most are symptom-based screening.