AfricaPress-Kenya: You will have to bury your loved one within 24 hours if they die of the coronavirus, government now says.
“Persons who pass away from coronavirus disease will have to be buried within 24 hours from the time of death, Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi (pictured) said.And as per one of the set guidelines by the health ministry to curb the spread of covid-19 in Kenya, the burial will be attended by not more than fifteen (15) people.
Traditionally, burial processes of Christians take almost a week in which a wake, a funeral service and a service on the day of the burial are included.For Muslims, the law states that the body should be buried as soon as possible after death.According to the new government directive announced on Sunday, the deceased, if a victim of the pandemic, will now be buried within 24 hours regardless of faith.
Kenya has so far reported four deaths from the coronavirus disease.The first death, a 66-year-old Kenyan male who had a long-term medical condition, was reported on March 27
The patient died at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Aga Khan Hospital where had been admitted.”The man who was suffering from diabetes arrived in the country on March 13, 2020, from South Africa via Swaziland,” Kagwe said in a statement.
On April 2, Kenya confirmed another two deaths bringing the number to three, including that of a Kenya Airways pilot, Captain Daudi Kimuyu Kibati, who died just 10 days after piloting the last flight from coronavirus-struck New York to bring Kenyans home.The country also lost a six-year-old child to the pandemic.Kenya now has 138 active cases of the coronavirus as at Sunday, April 5.
Out of 530 samples tested within the last 24 hours, fifteen Kenyans and one Nigerian national tested positive to the disease.
