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Kenya: Nairobi Bears the Brunt of Deadlier Covid-19 Wave

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Nairobi County continues to bear the biggest burden of Covid-19 infections, recording 247 deaths between January and April alone, the majority of the victims being men.

According to the Nairobi Covid-19 pandemic data outlook report, by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), the capital city has recorded 931 deaths since last March, when Kenya confirmed its first case of the disease.

Of those deaths, 191 were health care workers.

Kenya announced its first Covid-19 case on March 19, 2020. A second wave of infections followed months later while the third wave was officially announced on March 10 this year by the Health ministry.

It was when infections peaked that President Uhuru Kenyatta announced tougher measures to contain the pandemic, declaring five counties – Nairobi, Machakos, Kiambu, Nakuru and Kajiado – disease infested.

Key among the measures were a cessation of movement order and expanding the nighttime curfew from 10pm to 4am, to 8pm to 4am.

The measures will be reviewed at the end of May.

Deaths: Kibra leading

Kibra leads in the number of listed deaths, with 161 cases, almost double the number registered by other sub-counties in the county.

The April 21 report shows that 487 of those who died had underlying medical conditions while nine died directly from the virus. Cases of missing data numbered 435.

Of that number of people who have died in Nairobi, 647 were male and 284 female. Kenya’s death toll as of Monday was 2,643.

Dagoretti North came second after Kibra with 102 deaths and was followed by Lang’ata with 71 and Dagoretti South with 70.

Embakasi South has more cases of community-reported suspected Covid-19 deaths compared to those that have been line-listed.

“Westlands, Dagoretti North and Lang’ata have also reported a significant number of community-reported suspected Covid-19 deaths, particularly from the time the Ministry of Health stopped covering costs for Covid-19 patients requiring admission in TX and isolation facilities,” says the report.

Rising infections

The report also noted a spike in the number of positive cases in Nairobi, which were at least 28,889 between January and April.

It said Nairobi has reported at least 70,753 cases since the pandemic struck, out of the 156,981 record countrywide by Monday.

Since January, a total of 1,108 students and 211 teachers have tested positive for Covid-19, compared to 1,870 students and 407 teachers since March last year.

Over the same period, a total of 1,060 health workers tested positive for Covid-19, among them 331 nurses, 192 doctors and 159 community health workers.