Kisumu becomes new hotspot for COVID-19 infections
By Xinhua News Agency, May 23, 2021
Kenya’s lake region has recorded a spike in COVID-19 infections as the area becomes the new epicenter of the disease in the east African nation, according to the Ministry of Health.
The counties in the region bordering Lake Victoria, namely Kisumu, Kakamega, Siaya, Bungoma, Nyamira, Busia, Migori, Homa Bay and Kisii, are accounting for up to 50 percent of daily infections, overtaking the capital Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa, which have been hotspots since the outbreak of the disease in March 2020.
On Saturday, Kisumu had the highest infections countrywide, recording 103 cases ahead of Nairobi, which had 61 out of the total 573 cases from a sample size of 5,798 tested in the last 24 hours, Mutahi Kagwe, the cabinet secretary, Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Similarly, Kisii recorded 28 cases, Busia 24, Kakamega 22, Bungoma 12, and Nyamira 9 as the disease spreads in the region.
The trend in the lake region has been recorded for over a week, with the area contributing 261 out of the 659 cases recorded on Friday out of a sample size of 6,972.
On Thursday, the lake region similarly recorded about 200 cases of the disease out of the 376 reported from a sample of 4,153. The spike in COVID-19 cases in the region has been blamed on the Indian variant, which was first detected in Kisumu, with at least 20 cases confirmed.
Kenya’s confirmed positive cases stood at 168,108 on Saturday as cumulative tests conducted hit 1.8 million, said Mutahi. The country has vaccinated 952,967 persons as of Saturday.