4 State House staff positive as Covid-19 tally hits 3,727

The State House says it has tightened screening for staff who are residing outside its premises after four of them tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.

State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena said the four tested positive during a routine mass testing.

They are undergoing treatment at the Kenyatta University Hospital with their families and close contacts being monitored.

“To strengthen Covid-19 containment measures, extra access protocols for State House staff residing outside the compound and visitors had been rolled out,” she said, adding President Uhuru Kenyatta and the First Family were safe.

The State House statement came as the Health ministry asked Kenyans to start familiarising themselves with the protocols of caring for Covid-19 cases at home amid sustained rise in new infections.

On Monday, the ministry reported 133 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed Covid-19 infections to 3,727.

Some 33 more persons were discharged, raising the number of recoveries to 1,286 while more one person succumbed to the disease, increasing the casualty numbers to 104.

The government launched the home-based care protocols last week to ease the burden on public hospitals.

Already, facilities in Nairobi and Mombasa counties are at capacity yet about 78 percent of the patients are asymptomatic and do not require hospitalisation.

During the launch, the ministry indicated that community healthcare workers will be attending to Covid-19 patients at their homes.

Acting public health director Francis Kuria said the cases were growing exponentially hospitals were likely to be overwhelmed. This made self-isolation necessary, he said.

From yesterday’s announcement, Mombasa reported the highest cases with 61 while Nairobi, Kilifi, Busia, Kiambu had 53, seven, six and two cases, respectively.

A case each was confirmed in Nakuru, Kajiado, Murang’a and Kitui counties.