Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi has said eating a balanced diet boosts immunity and is thus effective in fighting coronavirus.
She said this during the daily Covid-19 press briefing on Monday at Afya House, Nairobi.
She announced 72 new Covid-19 cases from 2,711 samples tested, pushing the total to 1, 286. Today’ s number is the highest in a day since the first case was announced in the country on March 12.
“During this time, we would like to emphasize one measure that we find to be very effective and that is of maintaining a healthy balanced diet. It strengthens our bodies’ immune system to be able to fight diseases.”
“It’s important to note specifically that individuals who may have underlying conditions or are malnourished, have a greater risk of getting infections including covid-19. We would also like to emphasize that it is important that you do pay great attention to what you eat,” Dr Mwangangi said.
The Ministry of Health has developed several nutrition guidelines in response to Covid-19.
READ ALSO: Kenya records 72 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours
Having tested 2, 711 samples, Kenya has tested a total of 61, 971 persons since March 12.
Nine patients have been discharged from hospital after recovering from the disease and total recoveries are now 402. The total number of deaths in Kenya is now at 52 after one patient succumbed to the disease.
Of the new 72 coronavirus cases, 70 are Kenyans, one is of Somali nationality and one Ugandan. In terms of gender, 44 are males and 28 are females. The age range is between 12 to 78 years.
The positive cases are spread across the following counties; 52 cases in Nairobi, 11 in Mombasa, seven in Kiambu, one in Isiolo and one in Turkana. Turkana becomes the latest county to record a case. Twenty nine counties have now recorded positive coronavirus cases.
