16 family members under quarantine after dead relative tests Covid-19 positive
Sixteen members of one family in Bomet have been placed under quarantine after they came into contact with a relative who died of coronavirus complications.
The 55-year-old patient was taken to Longisa County Referral Hospital on Tuesday last week to seek treatment for diabetes. However, he succumbed the following day at around 1pm.
POSITIVE RESULT
Ernest Kosgei, who hails from Kagawet Village in Itembe Location, Bomet County, had traveled from Nairobi with a relative who is yet to be traced.
After his demise, his samples were taken to KEMRI-Kisumu, where Covid-19 tests on them returned a positive result.
As a result, the matter was reported at Bomet Police Station on Wednesday by the county’s public health officials. The police then launched a mission to trace Kosgei’s contact.
Sixteen family member’s from Kagawet Village, all of them related to the deceased, were on Wednesday tracked down and placed under mandatory quarantine at Kaplong Girls’ High School.
TESTING PATIENTS
Authorities are still pursuing Kosgei’s cousin, identified only as Geoffrey, who took him to hospital on May 4.
The latest development after the Ministry of Health announced that Kenyan hospitals will soon be required to test patients for Covid-19 before they are admitted.
Health Director-General Dr Patrick Amoth said the move is aimed at protecting frontline health workers and other patients admitted in wards from contracting the virus.
The ministry said a total of 34 Kenyan healthcare workers have so far been infected with the bug in the line of duty but none of them have died.