Kenya has confirmed 15 more cases of the Indian Covid-19 variant.

Dr Rashid Aman from the health ministry says this now brings the total number of cases from this mutation to 20.

“The new cases were confirmed from a genome sequencing conducted on 17 samples picked from travellers from India last week. From the analysis 15 had this strain,” Dr Aman said.

The B.1.617 variant has been blamed for India’s rise in cases that has seen the country record more than 20 million infections.

The variant has also been classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a variant of concern.

Preliminary studies show the mutation spreads more easily than other variants and requires further study.

Seven African countries have so far confirmed the presence of the variant with Kenya confirming most of the cases.