The government has confirmed 473 new Covid-19 cases after testing 6,979 samples in the last 24 hours.
The number of infections reported in the country since the outbreak of the disease now stands at 9,448. So far, a total of 206,584 samples have been tested.
Addressing the nation from Kilifi county on Friday, health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said eight more people had succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours. The Covid-19 death toll now stands at 181.
Among those who succumbed to the disease is a 38-year-old medical doctor.
Dr Doreen Adisa Lugaliki, a gynaecologist by training, succumbed to Covid-19 at the Aga Khan Hospital where she had been admitted to on Monday night.
Dr Lugaliki, who contracted the virus in the line of duty, is the first health worker to succumb to the respiratory disease in the country.
Read: Kenya Loses First Health Worker To Covid-19
“We have today for the first time lost a medical doctor to the coronavirus disease. I’m deeply saddened by this particularly because she contracted the virus while working to save the lives of others who had contracted the virus,” he said.
“It is always painful when life is lost and even more painful when it is a frontline worker and more so when it comes in the line of duty. On behalf of the government I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to her family and on behalf of the fellow healthcare workers who are within my ministry and county governments I also say pole sana (sorry for your loss).”
The CS said that that he had spoken with the deceased’s family and asked individuals present at the press briefing, among them officials from the two levels of government, to observe a minute of silence in honour of Dr Lugaliki.
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A total of 292 health workers have been infected with the virus since its outbreak in the country. Dr Patric Amoth, the Acting Health Director General, said that the medics include 160 men and 132 females.
At the same time, CS Kagwe said that 76 more patients have been discharged from various hospitals across the country after recovering raising the total number of recoveries recorded in the country to 2,734.
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