NAIROBI, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's ministry of health on Wednesday confirmed seven new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, raising the total number to 303.
Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary for health said that medical personnel had tested 707 samples in the past 24 hours.
Kagwe said all the seven are Kenyans, six from the coastal city of Mombasa while one is from Nairobi, noting that all the seven persons have no history of traveling to other countries.
"Six are from targeted mass testing and one was picked by our surveillance teams," he told journalists in Nairobi.
The Kenyan official said nine patients have been discharged from hospital, bringing the total number of recoveries to 83.
Kagwe said a total of 15,124 people have so far been tested since the COVID-19 pandemic was reported in the country in March.
He noted that the government has established a psychiatric psychological care help framework over the period to help with cases of mental health.
He challenged medical personnel to ensure continuity of all other health services without losing on COVID-19.
"Our plan is to test 25,000 people by June 2020 through surveillance testing mechanism that includes community-based surveillance, hospital-based surveillance and population-based surveillance," he added.
He said that the ministry has mapped 100 households that will feature in the community-based surveillance and have mapped 20 hospitals in 16 regions as part of hospital-based surveillance.
Meanwhile, the government has directed restriction of movement in and out of Mandera county in northeast Kenya after eight people tested positive for coronavirus this week.
Kagwe said the decision was arrived at following escalation of community-based infections and classification of the county as an infected area.
He said there will be a cessation of movement by air and road into and out of the county of Mandera for an initial period of 21 days, commencing Wednesday at 7 p.m..
Mandera County now joins Nairobi, Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi counties which have all being placed under containment to avert the spread of coronavirus.
Kenya has banned large gatherings to ensure social distancing; closed learning institutions, imposed a countrywide night curfew, suspended international passenger flights and closed borders among other measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. Enditem
