Kenya's health ministry on Saturday announced that the country's COVID-19 infections rose above the 2000-mark, further confirming 27 sequences belonging to the newly identified Omicron variant.

"I confirm between 23rd November and 7th December 2021, we have identified 9 lineages circulating in Kenya from a sample size of 34," Health minister Mutahi Kagwe said in a statement.

Kagwe explained that only the first two individuals with the Omicron variant had a travel history from South Africa and Ghana, while the rest had no recent international travel history thus suggesting ongoing community transmission.

While attributing the high resurgence of cases to the newly identified Omicron variant, the minister urged Kenyans to get vaccinated and those vaccinated to adhere to the laid out health protocols.

The ministry said 2,169 people tested positive for COVID-19 from a sample size of 9,428 tested in the last 24 hours, taking the positivity rate to 23 percent.

On Thursday and Friday this week, the positivity rate was 16.3 percent and 22.4 percent respectively.

The total confirmed positive cases are now 262,335 while cumulative tests so far conducted are 2,924,685.

Of the 2,169 new cases, 2,041 are Kenyans while 128 are foreigners; 1,130 are females and 1,039 are males, while the youngest is a two-month-old child and the oldest is 95 years.

The ministry also said 30 patients recovered from the disease, out of which 17 were from the Home-Based Isolation and Care program while 13 were discharged from various health facilities countrywide. Total recoveries stand at 249,222.

No death was recorded in the last 24 hours therefore cumulative fatalities still stand at 5,353.

"A total of 241 patients are currently admitted in various health facilities countrywide, while 4,474 are under the Home-Based Isolation and Care program," said Kagwe.

(With input from agencies)