The coronavirus has continued to affect the World in an unprecedented way. Global statistics indicate that as of March 21st, 2020, there were 266,073 confirmed cases and 11,084 deaths.The epicenter of the virus has since shifted from China to Europe. In Africa confirmed cases as of March 21st, 2020 were 572 with 12 reported deaths.
On Friday we announced that there were no new coronavirus cases, and that the seven patients who had tested positive for the virus were still undergoing treatment and were stable. We continue to monitor their progress, as well as the individuals that came into contact with them.
In the last 72 hours, we have received confirmation of Eight (8) new cases who have tested positive for Coronavirus in the country. This now brings the number of those who have tested positive to fifteen (15).
Out of the latest eight (8) cases, five (5) are Kenyans and three (3) are foreign nationals-two French and one Mexican. All the eight are imported cases from Europe and America. The ages are between 20 years for the youngest and 67years for the oldest.
All the eight came through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport between March 4th and March 17th, 2020. They have all been isolated at various facilities and are being monitored by our teams.
We are tracing 363 persons who had come into contact with patients. So far we only have three people awaiting processing at Mbagathi hospital. The rest have been processed and discharged.
All the patients, except one who is at the Coast are in stable condition. The government is organizing to have the patient airlifted to Nairobi for further treatment.
Like I mentioned on Friday last week, our actions continue to be guided by the trends that we have observed in other countries. Evidence from other countries indicate that the number of infected persons increases dramatically in the second week following confirmation of a first case.
I did further indicate that this coming two weeks are extremely critical for this country, as we seek to contain the outbreak.
Fellow Kenyans, the government has in the past few weeks announced various measures that are aimed at containing this virus. However, we have noticed that majority of our people have continued to ignore these measures and are behaving as if its business as usual.
Like I cautioned last week, this is not a joke, Kenyans MUST treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves, by adjusting and changing their lifestyles. If we continue to behave normally, this disease will treat us abnormally.
In addition to the measures we have already announced, the NERC has today resolved as follows:
Once again we are aware that these measures may be inconvenient at the moment, but I assure that they are necessary for meeting our indicated objective of keeping all Kenyans safe.