Many Italians, both in Nairobi and on the coast, are also ill with Covid-19 and symptomatic.
The news reaching the Portal of Italians in Kenya is not reassuring: after a year of relative calm, with few cases among compatriots and almost all with low viral load, the English variant has worsened the situation. This variation of the virus, as well as being more contagious, seems in fact to be more resistant to the climates and the rarefaction that occurs in open spaces and is infecting more and more foreigners. The advanced age of many compatriots and the health conditions of some of them do not help. Even in the last 24 hours, out of 1698 positive cases, there were 107 foreigners, and these figures, it should be noted, refer only to swabs taken in public facilities.
To fall seriously ill with Covid-19 today for a foreigner without health insurance in Kenya can be a real odyssey, not only economic.
With intensive care units almost full in the country's top hospitals, admission to reputable facilities can cost between five and eight thousand euros, plus any supplementary oxygen treatment and daily hospitalisation.
The percentage of cases per swab, meanwhile, despite the restrictions and the 5-county lockdown, does not seem to want to drop appreciably, continuing to hover between a low of 13.5 and a high of 16%.
Yesterday there were 26 deaths and the total in Kenya now stands at 2292.
At the same time, 456 patients have recovered from the disease, 267 from home and isolation care, and 189 from various health facilities. The total number of cures now stands at 97,650.
Currently, 1,620 patients are in various health facilities across the country, while 4,247 patients are in isolation and home care.
There are 235 patients admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICUs), 48 of whom are on ventilatory support and 155 on supplementary oxygen. 32 patients are under observation.
Another 261 patients are separately on supplementary oxygen with 248 of them on general wards and 13 in the High Dependency Unit ( HDU ).
In an attempt to address the lack of oxygen in these wards, the Ministry of Health has set up an Oxygen Task Force to find the best strategies to recover the many cylinders that have been 'lost on the way' and at the same time optimise services, maintenance and distribution.
Minister Mutahi Kagwe told the media that the Task Force is working with partners such as the French Government and the World Bank.