Roundup: Kenya's COVID-19 cases surpass 60,000 with record daily deaths

NAIROBI, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Hospitals across Kenya are grappling with an unprecedented number of COVID-19 patients as infection cases surge faster.

On Friday, some 1,109 people tested positive for the virus from a sample size of 7,153, bringing Kenya's total caseload to 60,704, according to the Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe.

COVID-19 deaths have hit a new high, with 21 patients dying in 24 hours on Thursday, the highest record ever.

On Friday, Kenya also recorded 21 deaths pushing the total tally to 1,093. Most of the deaths have occurred in October and November, where the daily toll has averaged 14.

Both private and public hospitals are swarmed by critically ill patients from the capital city Nairobi to counties in the west and east, some in need of ventilators, which are in scarce supply.

On Thursday, at least 1,262 patients were admitted in various hospitals across the country.

Of the patients, 62 were in the intensive care unit, some on ventilator support. Another 87 patients were in the high dependency unit on supplementary oxygen, said Kagwe. On the other hand, he noted that 5,189 patients were under the home-based care system.

Since the outbreak of the disease in March, most of Kenya's COVID-19 (90 percent) patients have been asymptomatic. This enabled the country to run an efficient home-based care system as hospitals catered for the few critical patients.

But with the second wave, the huge number of patients is unprecedented and threatens the health system.

The Kenya Medical Pharmacists and Dentists Council (KMPDC) put the number of isolation beds in both public and private facilities at 18,443 against the national target of 30,500 units.

A number of counties have not met their 300-bed capacity target as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in July.

The low-bed capacity has made hospitals refer patients who are not critically ill back home for self-isolation and treatment.

"I was diagnosed with the disease, checked into a hospital and was released after two days to self-isolate at home," Joseph, a Kenyan journalist who contracted the disease said on Friday.

On Wednesday, the Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said several counties isolation wards, intensive care units and high dependency units were operating at full capacity.

"We are in crisis. It has become hard to transfer patients to other counties and many are losing the battle while being taken to Nairobi to seek treatment," he said.

In October, Kenya registered 285 deaths, according to the health ministry.

"In October, we had over 15,000 infections and approximately 300 deaths according to the National Multi-Agency Command Centre on Covid-19," President Kenyatta said Wednesday.

Kenyatta tightened measures to curb the disease. This included lengthening curfew hours and ordering police officers to enforce the wearing of face masks.

The high number of infections, deaths and hospitalizations have alarmed the government as equally as the common citizens.

"I blame everyone for the situation we are. The government for failing to ensure everyone follows laid-down protocols, especially politicians who were organizing rallies, the citizens for failing to protect themselves and for leaders for being irresponsible. We should now do better going forward," said Beatrice Atieno, a shopkeeper on the south of Nairobi.