State gives only 24 hours for families to pick Coronavirus deceased bodies at the morgues

Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor. PHOTO | BMS

State to give only 24 hours for families to pick their loved bodies at Mortuaries across the country if the deceased was due to COVID-19.

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According to the government, families whose kin die from COVID-19 will be given only 24 hours to pick their loved ones from the mortuary, failure to which the body will be buried by the government at the nearest graveyard.

Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor says this is part of measures put in place to prevent a pile-up of coronavirus infected bodies which he says are still “potentially infectious.”

 “To avoid a situation where we have so many bodies lying in the mortuary and these are bodies that are potentially infectious we came to that decision of having that directive that bodies be buried within 24 hours of death,” said Oduor on Citizen TV.

He stated that the government shall provide logistical support including transport, adding that if no family member is available within the 24 hours, the body will be interred at the cemetery nearest to where the person died.

“As a government, we are going to assist the family transport the body to the place of burial so the question of cost will not come in. Just in case nobody appears within 24 hours we are going to bury the body at the nearest cemetery to where the person died,” he added.