In the past few weeks, Kenya has registered an increase in the positivity rate of covid-19 up to about 22 per cent from 5 per cent in the previous period.

Despite there being an introduction of the vaccine in the country, we have seen an increase in the number of citizens infected by the virus. Laxity among Kenyans is one of the reasons why there has been increasing in these numbers whereby most of them have begun to ignore the guidelines of the Ministry of Health in curbing the spread of the virus.

Some Kenyans have ignored the use of face masks to protect themselves and others from getting infected. Also, there has been minimal social distancing in the past few weeks whereby we have seen cases of people attending concerts and parties. In some cases, Kenyans have gotten the pandemic fatigue whereby, most of them can no longer stay in their houses for too long as advised by the government. Some even state that wearing masks can be quite exhausting which puts them at the risk of catching the virus.

Kenyan doctors have raised an alarm over new symptoms of the virus among patients and are asking Kenyans to observe extreme caution at this period. Some of the older symptoms include; shortness of breath, dry coughs, and fever. The new symptoms may however be confused for other diseases and they include; a rash on skin, diarrhoea, and discolouration of toes or fingers.

So far, there have been an approximate of about one hundred and four thousand five hundred (104,500) covid-19 cases whereby close to eighty-five thousand, six hundred and sixty-five (85,665) recoveries and one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven (1,837) deaths that have been reported by the Ministry of Health with Nairobi producing the highest numbers. The numbers are expected to increase with time if Kenyans do not take extra caution to curb the spread of the virus.

There have also been reports from both private and public health facilities that most of the ICU and HDU facilities are overwhelmed by large numbers of covid-19 patients who are in dire need of medical assistance. The number of those seeking hospitalization in the public and private facilities as a result of complications associated with the coronavirus disease has in recent weeks shot up, this is according to a report from the Ministry of health.

However, the Ministry has condemned reports of private hospitals demanding huge sums of money from people in need of critical care before admission to the intensive care and high dependency units. The Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Rashid Aman stated that it is the responsibility of medical facilities and health care workers to save lives. He also stated that the mentality of putting money ahead of peoples’ lives must stop. This also puts the health workers at a greater risk of contracting the virus and even succumbing to the disease.