A helicopter ferrying Health CS Mutahi Kagwe from Kericho failed to take off after developing mechanical problems.
The CS was accompanied by acting health director Dr Patrick Amoth.
The two health officials had boarded the chopper at Kericho Golf Club were forced to travel by road back to the capital city.
CS Kagwe was on a tour of Kericho county to assess the level of preparedness in Kericho Sub-County hospital ICU and isolation units.
He also took a tour of the Waltereed Laboratory where COVID-19 Tests are being carried out.
He had earlier announced 492 new Coronavirus infections, recorded in the last 24 hours from a 4,063 sample size.
Kenya’s tally as of Monday stood at 26,928.
Of the new cases, 478 were Kenyan nationals while 14 were foreigners aged between 11 months and 83 years.
Gender-wise, the newly detected cases were of 331 males and 161 females.
534 patients have recovered from the disease; 478 from home-based care program and 56 from various hospitals.
As a result, the number of recoveries currently stands at 13,485.
Unfortunately, 3 more patients have lost their lives to the novel COVID-19. This brings the total number of fatalities to 423.
The CS also said that there was concern over the high number of infants contracting the disease.
He urged parents to discourage visitors especially those with newborns.
The newly detected infections were spread out in the counties as follows: Machakos (10), Baringo (5), Kilifi (2), Mombasa (3), Nairobi (357), Kajiado (14), Kiambu (37), Murang’a (3).
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