As the cases of Kenyans who have tested positive for the coronavirus hits 25, the government has imposed stringent measures to curtail the spread of the deadly virus. Kenyans have been encouraged to stay at home and wash their hands regularly as the government last week banned all public gathering including, weddings, church services, funerals, among others to implement social distancing.
Last week, Kakamega County government and Uasin Gishu country shut down all mortuaries, so as to do away with crowds that could be a perfect medium for spreading the virus.
“For all bodies at our mortuary here, the owners should come and pick them and make a quick burial. We are not going to take any bodies to the mortuary, we will instead facilitate the communities to make sure they dispose off the bodies as quickly as possible,” said Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya.
To decongest city mortuaries on Tuesday, City hall waivered mortuary fees for all public mortuaries in Nairobi, to help netizens bury their dead as soon as possible. Folks have until March 31 to pick bodies of their loved ones lying at the City Mortuary, Mbagathi Hospital mortuary and Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary, failure to which the county government will seek authority from the courts to dispose of them.
“The waiver applies to all mortuaries under the county government. Members of the public are asked to identify and collect the bodies within one week,” said Mr Hitan Majevdia, county’s health official.
As per the Public Health Act, a body should be removed from a mortuary within two weeks or be disposed of because some of the local facilities lack the capacity to handle large numbers of dead bodies, and keeping the dead for longers a constraint to their scarce resources.
