Kenya: 93% of new COVID-19 infections ‘asymptomatic’

ANKARA (AA) - Kenya’s Health Ministry confirmed three COVID-19-related deaths and 63 infections Monday while announcing that 93% of the new confirmed infections are asymptomatic.

The new infections were discovered from a sample size of 2,134 people tested over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 98,334, the ministry said on Twitter.

“Three patients have lost their lives to the disease, pushing the cumulative fatalities to 1,713,” it said.

Kenya has conducted 1,094,278 tests so far in the country of nearly 55 million people, the ministry noted.

The ministry also said that 226 more patients have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number to 81,101.

Kenya has been hit in recent weeks by a second wave of COVID-19, registering a spike in the number of victims with ups and downs in their numbers.

The capital Nairobi is regarded as the most affected by the pandemic.

Worldwide, COVID-19 has claimed more than 1.94 million lives in 191 countries and regions since first being detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.

More than 90.8 million people have been infected, while recoveries exceed 50.2 million.

A separate study conducted in Italy last year suggested that the coronavirus may have been circulating in the country as early as September 2019.