Kenya records 1,068 new cases, 12 deaths

[beth]

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kenya has risen to 47,212 after 1,068 tested positive between Wednesday and Thursday.

The cases were tested from a sample of 7,556 which now pushes the cumulative total of samples tested in the country to 640,225.

From the cases 1,044 are Kenyans while 24 are foreigners. 666 are male while 402 are female.

The youngest patient is a six-month-old baby while the oldest is 96 years.

27 patients are currently receiving care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) while 45 are on supplementary oxygen; 27 are on ventilatory support while 12 are in the High Dependency Unit (HDU).

A total of 1,121 patients are admitted in various hospitals while 3,112 are on the Home-Based Isolation and Care.

The cases are distributed across the country as follows: Nairobi 305, Nakuru 137, Mombasa 74, Kisumu 60, Kericho 58, Nandi 48, Uasin Gishu 48, Kakamega 47, Kilifi 34, Kisii 28, Laikipia 26, Turkana 22, Meru 20, Kajiado 18, Kiambu 18, Garissa 15, Busia 14, Machakos 14, West Pokot 12, Murang’a 9, Migori 9, Bomet 6, Isiolo 6, Nyamira 6, Siaya 5, Narok 4, Nyeri 4, Wajir 4, Bungoma 3, Trans Nzoia 3, Kirinyaga 3, Baringo 3, Elgeyo Marakwet 1, Lamu 1, Nyandarua 1, Taita Taveta 1 and Embu 1.

In terms of Sub County Distribution; In Nairobi, the 305 cases are from Lang’ata (34), Westlands (31), Dagoretti North (30), Kasarani and Makadara (25) cases each, Embakasi East and Embakasi South (19) cases each, Kibra (18), Dagoretti South and Embakasi West (14) cases each, Kamukunji, Ruaraka and Starehe (12) cases each, Mathare and Roysambu (11) cases each, Embakasi North (10) and Embakasi Central (8).

In Nakuru, the 137 cases are from Nakuru East (65), Nakuru West (22), Nakuru North (21), Rongai (11), Naivasha (9), Gilgil (7), Kuresoi North and Njoro (1) case each.

In Mombasa, the 74 cases are from Mvita (45), Kisauni (11), Nyali (8), Likoni (5), Jomvu (3)
and Changamwe (2).

In Kisumu, the 60 cases are from Kisumu Central (40), Nyando (7), Nyakach (6), Kisumu West (4) and Kisumu East (3). In Kericho, the 58 cases are from Ainamoi (44), Belgut (12), Bureti and Kipkelion (1) case each.

In Nandi, the 48 cases are from Emgwen (42), Chesumei (4), Aldai and Mosop (1) case each. In Uasin Gishu, the 48 cases are from Turbo (21), Ainabkoi (14), Kesses (6), Kapseret (4) and Soy (3).

In Kakamega, the 47 cases from Lurambi (20), Mumias West (14), Malava (6), Mumias East (4), Kwhisero (2) and Matungu (1).

In Kilifi, the 34 cases are from Magarini (18), Malindi (13) and Kilifi North (3). In Kisii, the 28 cases are from Kitutu Chache South (22), Nyaribari Chache (5) and Bonchari (1).

In Laikipia, the 26 cases are from Laikipia East (21) and Laikipia West (5). In Turkana, the 22 cases are from Turkana Central (16), Turkana South (5) and Turkana West (1).

In Meru, the 20 cases are from Imenti North (13), Igembe South (2), Tigania West, Tigania East, Imenti South, Igembe North and Buuri (1) case each. In kajiado, the 18 cases are from Kajiado Central (11) and Kajiado North (7).

In Kiambu, the 18 cases are from Ruiru (4), Kiambaa, Kikuyu, and Thika (3) cases each, Juja and Kiambu Town (2) cases each, Githunguri (1).

In Garissa, the 15 cases are from Dadaab (9), Fafi (5) and Garissa Town (1). In Busia, the 14 cases are from Matayos and Teso North (7) cases each.

In Machakos, all the 14 cases are from Athi River, while all the 12 cases in West Pokot, are from West Pokot.

The 9 cases in Murang’a, are from Kandara (7) and Kiharu (2), while the 9 cases in Migori, are from Suna East (5) and Suna West (4).

The 6 cases in Bomet, are all from Bomet East, all the 6 cases in Isiolo, are from Isiolo town, all the 6 cases in Nyamira, are from Nyamira Town, and the 5 cases in Siaya, are from Rarieda (3), Bondo and Alego Usonga (1) case each.

The 4 cases in Narok, are all from Narok North, all the 4 cases in Nyeri, are from Nyeri Central, and the 4 cases in Wajir are from Wajir East (3) and Wajir South (1).

The 3 cases in Bungoma, are all from Kanduyi, the 3 cases in Trans Nzoia, are from Saboti (2) and Kwanza (1), all the 3 cases in Kirinyaga, are from Kirinyaga Central, while the 3 cases in Baringo, are from Baringo North (2) and Baringo Central (1).

The case in Elgeyo Marakwet, is from Keiyo South, the case in Lamu, is from Lamu West, the case in Nyandarua, is from Kinangop, the case in Taita Taveta, is from Wundanyi, and the case in Embu, is from Manyatta.

The Ministry of Health has also announced 12 new COVID-19 fatalities, with the death toll rising to 870.

290 patients have also recovered; 235 from the Home-Based Care Program while 55 have been discharged from various hospitals.

The total recoveries now stand at 33,050.

 

[Geza Ulole]

Tony254 ukae chonjo!

 

[eliakeem]

Pima pimaa pimaaaaa pimaaaaa weee

 

[Geza Ulole]

 

[Naton Jr]

Na bado kitawanukia sana tu mpaka watakapojua karma is always on time, conveniently never loose memory 🤣

 

[Geza Ulole]

Corona ‘gamble’ pays off for Tanzania

• By:
• Tom Collins --
• Oct19,2020 --
• 0 Comments

Share



With an economy that continues to grow, Tanzania’s unconventional approach to COVID-19 appears to be paying off, but the long-term effects of the virus are hard to predict, writes African Business’s Tom Collins in Dar es Salaam
**
“There’s no COVID here,” says a young tuk-tuk driver in Tanzania’s economic capital of Dar es Salaam, the biggest city in the region with almost seven million people.

Since President John Magufuli boldly announced in June that Tanzania was “coronavirus-free” it has become a commonly heard refrain across the East African country.

But a lack of COVID-19 cases is impossible. Tanzania is surrounded by eight African countries, with confirmed cases ranging from almost 40,000 in Kenya to 4,700 in Rwanda at the time of writing.

The last time Tanzania’s government released coronavirus data – on April 29 – it reported 509 confirmed cases, around 150 more than Kenya at that time.

With similar demographics and a larger population, Tanzania might be expected to have an equal if not greater number of cases than Kenya.

The difference, however, is that COVID-19 has not changed life in Tanzania whereas other African countries, including Kenya, have entered strict lockdowns.

Bucking a global trend, President Magufuli has repeatedly downplayed the virus and implemented very few preventative measures.

While masks are a common sight across Africa in cities like Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg, they are a rarity on the streets of Tanzania.

Bars and restaurants remain open, while large gatherings such as sports events and religious assemblies have been allowed to continue. The government is neither testing nor releasing data on tests.

Though critics believe President Magufuli has neglected his duties as leader and misled his citizens by claiming that prayer will beat the virus, the controversial approach has so far allowed Tanzania to avoid much of the economic disruption witnessed in other markets.

Lockdown opponents argue that while up to 80 percent of Africa’s economy is informal, any restrictions will lead to far greater financial ruin than in developed markets.

“Many other countries that went into lockdown have suffered tremendously from an economic point of view,” says Mohammed Dewji, CEO of industrial conglomerate MeTL, Tanzania’s largest home-grown company.

“Tanzania never went into lockdown and that is why I believe it will perform far better than all East and Central African countries.”

Balancing Act

In fact, Dewji’s prediction may be too modest – Tanzania’s economy could register one of the highest growth rates in the world for 2020.

The IMF predicts a drop in growth this year from six percent to four percent, compared with Kenya which will fall from six percent to one percent, and others like South Africa which are headed towards recession.

“I don’t think that Tanzania is headed towards a recession, it has proven to be quite resilient,” says Jens Reinke, the IMF’s representative in Tanzania. “Underlying this is a couple of factors. One is that Tanzania was not hit by the public health side of the pandemic as other countries might have been.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed likely that Tanzania would pay a heavy price for adopting very few health measures.

While Africa shows a low mortality rate relative to other regions, the logic of shutting down the economy to prevent deaths is not so clear. For example, Uganda has only 63 reported COVID deaths while Spain, with a similar-sized population, has 8,500.

On the other hand, Tanzania could be experiencing an unreported health crisis, something that observers have feared following reports of clandestine COVID-19 burials in May.

The worry is compounded by the government’s strict control of the COVID-19 narrative, which includes banning journalists from reporting on the subject and creating an environment where NGOs and doctors are scared to talk to the media.

While unsubstantiated by the lack of data, several off-record conversations between African Business, medical officials and opposition figures suggest that Tanzanian hospitals were not overflowing with COVID-19 patients in mid-September.

“If COVID-19 is here in our interwoven society in Zanzibar, we would know about it,” says one opposition politician. “The hospitals don’t have anyone in them. They cannot hide it here in such a small place.”

The most likely explanation for the pandemic’s diminished effect in Tanzania and other African countries compared with developed nations is that younger populations are more resilient to the virus and dispersed as a result of limited transport infrastructure.

The median age in Tanzania is just 17,7 compared with an average age of 38,4 in the US – one of the worst affected countries.

Whether through luck or design, President Magufuli has, for now, managed to avoid the negative impact to health and the economy of COVID-19 during a period of extreme turmoil in the rest of the world.

Positive Shock

Tanzania has also benefited from what the IMF’s Reinke calls a “dual positive shock”.

As a net importer of oil and exporter of gold, Tanzania has benefited from a substantial improvement in the terms of trade during the COVID-19 period due to the fall in the price of oil and the rise in the price of gold.

While tourism revenues have diminished, favourable commodity prices have helped stabilise the government’s balance of payments and kept its earnings at an acceptable level.

Tanzania’s national treasury is predicting a budget shortfall of only 2,6 percent of GDP this year. This contrasts positively with Uganda and Rwanda, whose deficits are expected to widen to 7,9 percent and 9,1 percent respectively.

Few businesses have gone bankrupt in Tanzania compared with countries like Kenya, where hundreds of small businesses have been forced to close in the hospitality sector due to a lockdown which still includes a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Tourism Impact

With no restrictions on the domestic economy, the main sectors under pressure in Tanzania are those that are interlinked with outside markets like tourism, trade and logistics.

Charles Itembe, MD of Azania Bank, says that he has restructured repayments on loans for customers in the tourist industry from between three months to one year.

“Because of COVID-19 there was no more traffic in the tourist industry and our clients say they have been hit quite significantly,” he says.

Unlike most other countries, Tanzania does not require tourists to quarantine for 14 days, which means the well-known safari destination is likely to recover faster than its main competitor Kenya.
It is unclear whether Tanzania’s reputation in Africa for failing to take COVID-19 seriously will be picked up by potential visitors from North America and Europe.

A small number of tourists started to return in July though most operators do not expect the sector to fully recover until a vaccine is in circulation.

“Most of the travellers decided to postpone their safari to next year,” says Rama Mohamed, founder of Gecko Adventure Tanzania, which had been organising tours for around 60 families each month.

Tanzania’s unique coronavirus policy has strained relations with neighbouring states who have pursued stricter measures. Zambia and Kenya, fearing overlapping transmission, closed their borders with the country in May.
Kenya then banned direct flights arriving from Tanzania, and Tanzania retaliated by banning Kenyan carriers from its airspace.

The deterioration in relations has impacted Tanzania’s cross-border exporters and traders, and some observers believe the spat could restrict further moves towards economic integration in the East African Community.

But elsewhere, the relative health of Tanzania’s economy is reflected by its engagement with multilateral lenders.

The IMF has provided emergency financing to 33 Sub-Saharan African countries, totalling more than US$15 billion. Neighbouring Kenya received $739m as part of the Fund’s rapid credit facility, and a similar arrangement is available for Tanzania.

According to Reinke, although the IMF has been in discussion with the Tanzanian authorities they have decided not to access the emergency funds – opting for US$14,3 million in debt relief instead.

One possible reason is that after downplaying the seriousness of the virus, President Magufuli may be politically reluctant to access emergency funding.

The government may also be less in need of help than other countries.

Uncertain Future
Preliminary findings from the WHO suggest that more than 80 percent of Africans who contract Covid-19 are asymptomatic.

However, this does not mean that African countries can discount the pandemic and the virus could still inflict harm on Tanzania’s population, especially if there are no government measures in place.

On the other hand, the decision to keep the domestic market open has allowed the country to keep growing while most other countries face serious economic contractions.

“They have lockdown, we don’t have lockdown, they are not working, we are working, they are not recovering, we are recovering,” says Itembe from Azania Bank. “This is the big difference between Tanzania and the rest of the world and East Africa.”

Corona ‘gamble’ pays off for Tanzania || The Southern Times