By KYEB Reporter

Health ministry has asked county governments to work even harder in the fight against the Covid-19 virus with statistics showing the disease is beginning to creep into the counties.

Speaking during the daily update on Covid-19 on Tuesday, Health CAS Mercy Mwangagi also announced eight more positive Coronavirus cases in the country which brought the total number of confirmed cases to 216.

Dr. Mwangangi also said Phase One of mass testing is to begin in the coming few days with priority clusters identified.

The CAS said five of the new patients were Kenyan and three foreign nationals. Six of the new cases were reported in Nairobi, one in Siaya and another in Nakuru after the analysis of 649 samples, she said adding that the new patients had histories of travel to Zambia, the UK and Comoros.

At the same time, the number of recovered persons rose to 41 following the announcement of an additional one recovery on the Tuesday briefing.

While noting an increase in local transmission, Dr. Mwangangi said 12,000 mass testing kits will be distributed in the first phase across the country.

Nairobi’s Kibra, Mandera County in north-eastern, Siaya County in western Kenya and the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in Mombasa County are among the priority clusters due to the identified risk of transmission.