A worker from Nairobi County fire brigade disinfects the streets of Nairobi, capital of Kenya, March 29, 2020. (Xinhua/John Okoyo)
A six-year-old child has died of COVID-19 in Kenya, bringing the number of those who have succumbed to the virus to four. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kenya hit 122.
NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A six-year-old child has died of COVID-19 in Kenya, bringing the total number of those who have succumbed to the virus to four, the health ministry announced on Friday.
Mercy Mwangangi, the chief administrative secretary, also confirmed 12 more cases, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 122.
"I am saddened to inform you that we have lost another patient to the Coronavirus disease. The person, a 6-year-old male child was also ailing from other medical conditions and had been admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital," Mwangangi told journalists in Nairobi.
Out of this number, she said, 11 are Kenyans and one is Somali national.
She said nine of the confirmed cases were detected in four of the designated quarantine facilities, while three are from suspected cases admitted in isolation units in various health facilities.
Mwangangi said medics have so far monitored 1,721 contacts and out of this number, 1073 have been discharged, noting that there are 648 contacts that they are actively tracing currently.
A Health Ministry officials take temperature of passengers to contain the spread of COVID-19 at a police checkpoint on a highway in Nakuru, Kenya, March 31, 2020. (Xinhua/Sheikh Maina)
She also revealed that 362 tests had been conducted over the past 24 hours and it is from this exercise that 12 more cases were found to be positive.
Mwangangi also urged those hoarding oxygen cylinders to release them for use at the hospitals and said Kenyans should increase their use of paperless money to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the police in the coastal city of Mombasa on Friday arrested Kilifi deputy Governor Gideon Saburi for violating the 14-day mandatory quarantine for suspected cases of COVID-19 pandemic.
Saburi's arrest comes barely a day after the ministry of health announced that he had fully recovered from COVID-19 and thus would be prosecuted for failing to self-quarantine under the public health laws.
He is being held in police custody awaiting to be produced in court on Monday to face charges of placing the lives of other citizens at risk.
He had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 22, weeks after he had jetted back into the country from Germany. ■
