Kenya confirms 15 new cases of COVID-19

Kenya's ministry of health on Tuesday confirmed 15 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 296.

Mercy Mwangangi, the chief administrative secretary, said that the new cases are 11 Kenyans and four foreign nationals.

Mwangangi said six persons of those who tested positive are from quarantine centers and nine were picked up by surveillance teams.

She said that medical personnel had tested 545 samples and those who tested positive to COVID-19 had no history of traveling.

The health ministry official said that the results are a clear indication that the infection is increasingly growing within communities.

"It is therefore very critical that we strictly observe the containment measures," Mwangangi told journalists in Nairobi.

She announced that five patients who have recovered from the virus had been discharged from hospital during the past 24 hours, bringing to 74 the total number of recoveries.

Mwangangi added that a total of 2,851 contacts have been monitored, out of which 2,121 have been discharged. She noted that 730 contacts are being followed currently and that 14,417 samples have so far been tested.

The official urged Kenyans to adhere to preventive measures of handwashing, social distancing, general hygiene and quarantine to save people from getting infected by the virus.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Kenya, the government has urged people to wear masks while visiting public places such as supermarkets, open markets to avoid contracting or spreading the virus to other people.

Kenya has also banned large gatherings to ensure social distancing, closed learning institutions, imposed a countrywide night curfew, and suspended international passenger flights, in addition to closing borders, to contain the spread of COVID-19.