Nyong'o: Mourners going to Kisumu must be Covid-19 free

Persons accompanying bodies for burial in Kisumu must have Covid-19 negative certificates, Governor Anyang' Nyong'o  has said.

Nyong'o said the mourners shall be screened at the county border points and documents verified before proceeding to destinations.

“Flouting of such regulations shall be deemed to be in contravention of the Public Health Act and will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Act,” the governor said.

He directed the department of Health and Sanitation to implement the regulations immediately.

Bodies transported from outside to or through the county shall be accompanied by cause of death record, he said. 

The record should be certified by a government pathologist and shall be accompanied by not more than five persons.

The directive comes as the county recorded its fifth Covid-19 patient.

The two latest cases, a man and woman aged 38 and 32 respectively arrived from Ruaraka in Nairobi. 

They had accompanied a body for internment in Kajulu in Kisumu East and were flagged by surveillance teams on May 23 and quarantined.

The administration has intensified the tracing of their contacts. 

The earlier three cases were two long-distance truck drivers aged 29 and 82.  The third one, a 33-year-old woman, travelled with 19 others from Nairobi to attend a funeral in Nyando subcounty.

All were stopped at border control. 

The two men are at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital Covid-19 isolation facility. The woman is in an isolation facility in Nairobi.

Nyongo said that all the positive cases reported in the county have been imported from outside. The majority came into the county to attend funerals.

“I want to urge the public to be more vigilant about the ongoings in their localities and to continue adhering to the public health Covid-19 containment measures,” he said. 

The governor also directed that bodies be removed from mortuaries for burial no later than 9.30am and be interred within six hours.

(edited by o. owino)