Worry As Kenya Detects 15 More Cases of Deadly Indian COVID-19 Strain

Kenya has detected 15 more cases of the Indian COVID-19 variant, the Health Ministry has said.

Speaking on Wednesday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Rashid Aman said the new cases were detected from 18 visitors who arrived and screened at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on May 2nd.
 
“A further analysis of the tests performed on 17 of the 18 cases screened at JKIA during arrival from India has shown that 15 of them are positive for the new variant. They are all safely under isolation,” Aman said.

The discovery raises the total number of people diagnosed with the deadly Indian COVID-19 strain to 20.

This comes after five Indian nationals who landed in Kisumu last week to undertake a fertilizer project in Kibos area tested positive for the variant.

Health director-general Dr. Patrick Amoth pointed out that the variant is not a big threat and maintained that it is important for people to get vaccinated.

“Even if it is one dose, we are emphasizing that people should be vaccinated because the vaccine gives 70/100 percent protection from the severity of the disease,” he said.

A COVID-19 wave that is currently ravaging India has been blamed on the B.1.617 variant, which has led to a sharp spike in the number of infections and deaths.

On Wednesday, COVID-19 fatalities in India grew by a record 4,205 while infections rose 348,421, taking the tally past 23 million.