Kenya's health ministry has announced the country's first Covid-19 death.

In a statement on Thursday evening, health secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the victim was a 66-year-old man who returned to the country from South Africa via Swaziland on March 13 and was admitted at the Aga Khan Hospital intensive care unit. He suffered from diabetes.

"We have received the sad news of the death of the first patient who had tested positive for coronavirus," Kagwe said.

Health chief administrative secretary Mercy Mwangangi said the East African country had recorded three new cases of Covid-19, raising the total number to 31.

The government was expanding testing centres to Kenya Medical Research Institute centres in Kisumu and Kilifi, among others, she added.

Mwangangi urged Kenyans to adhere to measures and directives spelled out by the government, to ensure that the virus was contained.