Nairobi, Mar 21 (IANS): Kenya's Ministry of Health has expressed concern over the rising number of Covid-19 infections in the country.

Chief Administrative Secretary of the Ministry of Health Mercy Mwangangi said the rising cases of infections are an indication that Kenyans have lowered their guard, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

"We are in the third wave of this virus and it's a wave that threatens to erase all the gains we have made as a country in fighting the pandemic over the last one year," Mwangangi told a news conference in Nairobi on Friday.

She said the number of those being admitted into the health facilities with the virus has also been rising at an alarming rate.

"For instance by yesterday (Thursday), 11 patients had been admitted to our intensive care units (ICU). Today that number has shot up by 123. Many of these are on supplementary oxygen. In fact, a total of 148 are being supported with supplemental and supplementary oxygen," Mwangangi said.

She said the number of fatalities stood at 1,982 while the total caseload in the country was 118,889, with 89,388 recoveries.

The Kenyan official said that 1,354 new cases, the highest ever, turned positive from a sample size of 7,732 collected in the last 24 hours.

"Today's number is not just the highest this year but is also the highest we have recorded since the virus was first reported in Kenya slightly over a year ago," Mwangangi said.

"This is a very worrying trend and all efforts must be made to arrest the situation," Mwangangi said.

Mwangangi said the country will consider reintroducing stringent measures to curb the situation if the current trend does not improve.