Fear and panic has gripped Milimani village in Mautuma location Lugari Sub County following the death of a middle aged man in what is suspected to be a COVID-19 case.
The man is said to have stayed in the area for only one week and a half after travelling from Meru through Nairobi to do some work which he had been assigned at Mbagara by Mr. Anthony Odadi Amoit a police officer based in Nairobi.
According to Miss Beatrice Minayo who is a caretaker of Amoit’s compound in Milimani, her boss called her on Friday 5th June 16, 2020 informing her that he had sent someone to do some work on his farm in Mbagara village and instructed her to receive him at the Milimani compound before directing him to Mbagara.
She said Amoit called her when the man had already reached Turbo and he arrived moments later on a boda boda.
“I was suspicious and even asked him how he managed to travel from Nairobi with cessation of movement but he said he had passed through all the laid down guidelines before travelling and there was no cause to worry about his health status in relation to the coronavirus,” said Minayo.
She said after two days the deceased David Kimathi Manyara went to the Mbagara compound where he spent two days before he returned to Milimani complaining that the climate in Mbagara was too cold and he could not live there.
However, on Monday morning he started complaining of fever before experiencing breathing difficulties and succumbed as they were preparing to take him to hospital.
“My mother had gone to the market and left us home. After noticing him having breathing problems I asked if I could take him to hospital of which he agreed and I left to go and look for a motorbike but when I returned I found him dead,” said Geoffrey Baswetwi, who is Minayo’s son.
He said despite reporting to the police the incident on Monday afternoon they never turned up to take away the body, disclosing that they were afraid after learning it was a suspected COVID-19 case.
A team of health officials led by Lugari sub county Medical officer of health (MOH) Dr. Patrick Ndambuki, sub county public health officer Zacharia Migiro and the sub county disease surveillance officer Bramwel Wanyonyi visited the scene, fumigated the compound before they removed the body strictly adhering to the safety precautions and took it to Kakamega General hospital mortuary.
The sub county public health officer Mr. Zachariah Migiro disclosed that they had taken samples from the body to be taken to Kisumu KEMRI lab for testing to establish whether he died of COVID-19.
Migiro said as a precaution measure, his department has already started contact tracing just in case the results turns positive.
He appealed to all contacts to voluntarily come out so as to help prevent the spread of the killer virus among locals.
Area chief Pamela Davava Kulali said they had managed to trace the deceased’s family in Meru and informed them of his death.
She however regretted that the deceased had stayed in the area and interacted with residents for about 12 days without reporting his presence despite some of them knowing well that he had travelled through an epicenter area.
She also played off reports that the late had gone through all laid down directives before he travelled to the area saying there was no single document to prove it.
The administrator has appealed to all residents to be vigilant and report any new faces spotted in the area in the efforts to fight the spread of the virus.