Ministry of health in Kenya on Wednesday called on citizens to remain alert as the country is in its third wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

Mutahi Kagwe, Cabinet Secretary for Health said the latest wave has claimed 12 people in the last 24 hours, pushing the country's death toll to 1,898. Total number of confirmed cases in the country have now hit 110,356 cases after 713 new cases, a record this year, were recorded in the last 24 hours while the total number of recoveries has risen to 87,903.

Kagwe called on Kenyans to ensure that they enhance their protection against the deadly virus by adhering to the health protocols which were introduced by the government.

COVID-19 infections surged to a peak in June and July 2020, then decreased sharply between August and September, but rose again to a new peak in October and November 2020, before going to a new low level in January and early February.

The east African nation so far vaccinated 4,000 Kenyans against the disease a week after Kenya received 1.02 million doses of the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. Mercy Mwangangi, Chief Administrative Secretary in the ministry of health said that so far, no adverse effects from the vaccine had been recorded.

The official said the situation points to the emergence of a third wave in the country but added that the situation was different in the counties which are yet to experience shortages at the intensive care units.

The remarks came as President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to address the nation on Friday amid fears he will introduce the stringiest measures in place.

"We plan to vaccinate 15 million people countrywide which is about 30 percent of our total population of about 49 million by the end of June 2023 in three phases," said Kagwe.

Kagwe said Kenya expects to receive vaccine support from Gavi to vaccinate another 20 percent of the population and also procure vaccines of another 10 percent of the population.

Health experts have raised fears that the third wave of infections comes at a time when the world is experiencing more infectious variants of the virus, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the current vaccines against mutations.