•Nun's father died forcing her to fly from Rome to attend his burial in Nandi Hills,
• Had tested negative, refused permission to join funeral procession.
Mourners at a village funeral in Nandi panicked on Tuesday on realising a Catholic nun -- the man's daughter -- had arrived from Italy but did not self-quarantine.
The nun is said to have travelled from Rome in Italy arriving on Sunday to attend her father’s burial at Tartar village in Chepkunyuk ward of Nandi Hills constituency.
She had landed at JKIA on Saturday night and boarded a PSV,arriving home on Sunday morning.
The county health team confronted her at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Nandi Hills during a RequiemMass for her father on Tuesday afternoon.
She was tested for coronavirus at the Nandi Hills Subcounty Hospital and found negative. She was allowed to proceed for a night vigil and the subsequent burial ceremony.
The nun informed the health workers that she was tested for coronavirus upon landing at the airport and who was found to be negative.
On Wednesday, Nandi East police boss David Nyabuto told the Star the nun had been advised to keep her distance from other people.
“We asked her not to mingle. She should have been quarantined but she came to mourn her dad,” Nyabuto said.
She had been refused permission to join a procession escorting the casket to the graveside.
More than 100 family members attended, many to see her after she spent several years in Europe.
Nandi Health executive Ruth Koech said they had set up 10 isolation beds for Covid-1cases at the hospitals in Kapsabet and Nandi Hills.
“Most of those who arrived from abroad have been put under self-quarantine at their homes while one is under the hospital care after refusing self-isolation,” Koech said.
No case of coronavirus has so far been confirmed in Nandi and Koech said they were on alert.
“We have several athletics training camps hosting foreign and local runners and we have asked them to suspend their activities for now,” she said.
The health scouting team had also launched a manhunt for a Kenyan athlete who jetted into the country from Qatar and disappeared instead of going into self-quarantine.
(edited by peter obuya)