Gov’t Orders Bodies of Kenyan Covid-19 Victims Buried Within 24 Hours

The government has issued a directive requiring families who lose their loved ones to coronavirus to bury them within 24 hours from the time of death.

While announcing the directive on Sunday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary Dr. Mercy Mwangangi also noted that burials of Covid-19 victims will be restricted to a maximum of 15 family members.

“The burials are restricted to less than 15 close family members,” Dr. Mwangangi said in a press briefing at Afya House. 

As of Sunday, Kenya had lost four people to the virus including senior Kenya Airways pilot Captain Daudi Kibati and a six-year-old boy. Kibati, who died on April 1st at the Nairobi Hospital, was buried in Kitui on Saturday.

Last week, Health Director-General Dr. Patrick Amoth said the government will first fumigate bodies of Covid-19 victims before handing them to families for burial.

On Sunday Dr. Mwangangi announced the confirmation of 16 new Covid-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 142. 

She indicated that 15 of the new cases are Kenyans while one is a Nigerian national. 12 of the cases were registered in Nairobi County, three in Mombasa and one in Kilifi.

Four people, including Kilifi Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi have so far recovered from the virus in Kenya.