COVID-19: 142 People With Special Needs Among 208 Tested Positive

The majority of Kenya’s COVID-19 cases are people with special needs, the acting Director-General of Public Health Dr. Patrick Amoth has revealed putting the figures at 142 out of the total 208 confirmed cases.

The 142 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 yet have special needs range from lactating mothers to people with physical disabilities.

Doctor Amoth also revealed the two of the forty that are among those that tested positive for COVID-19 were in the Intensive Care Unit as they needed ventilators while the other one was also on dialysis.

“Out of this number, 140 are in stable condition, two are in critical condition on ventilators and one of the two is also on dialysis,” Doctor Amoth noted.

Yesterday, 13th April 2020, Kenya marked exactly one month since the first case of COVID-19 was reported and it was that of a 27-year-old woman whose identity was revealed upon her recovery as Brenda.

Doctor Amoth also noted that the COVID-19 special needs patients were being taken care of with consideration to their respective needs.

Since the first case was reported on March 13, the country has so far lost 9 people with 40 having recovered.

Amoth said the patients are taken care off just like other patients but with a consideration of their respective needs.

So far 1,882,306 positive cases have been reported globally with 119,759 deaths and 452,955 recoveries.

In Africa, the number of reported cases stands at 15,363 with 798 deaths and 2,989 recoveries.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said the government will now embark on targeted testing as opposed to mass testing as had earlier been planned.

The Health CS said that targeted testing was more likely to yield the targeted results and hence be more effective.

“Going to test for instance staff from an institution where an employee tested positive is more effective. Going for a cluster in one of the estates would save more time compared to just going for anybody,” the Health CS said.

The Health CS also noted that the low positive cases being reported could not be construed to mean absolute success as Kenya is still in deep waters and needs to continue adhering to stated safety measures.

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