Government Order: Kenya Covid-19 victims must be buried within 24 hours after death

You will have to bury your loved one within 24 hours if they die of the coronavirus, the government has ordered.

“Persons who pass away from coronavirus disease will have to be buried within 24 hours from the time of death, Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi (pictured) ordered today.

The health ministry has also ordered that such burials will be attended by not more than fifteen (15) people.

In Kenya non-Islamic burials take place at an average of seven days after death.

Kenya has so far reported four deaths from the coronavirus disease.

The first death, of a 66-year-old Kenyan male who had a long-term medical condition, was reported on March 27.

He died at an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Aga Khan Hospital where had been admitted.

"The man who was suffering from diabetes arrived in the country on March 13, 2020, from South Africa via Swaziland," Kagwe said in a statement.

On April 2, Kenya confirmed another two deaths bringing the number to three, including that of a Kenya Airways pilot, Captain Daudi Kimuyu Kibati, who died just 10 days after piloting the last flight from coronavirus-struck New York to bring Kenyans home.

The country also lost a six-year-old child to the pandemic.

Kenya now has 138 active cases of the coronavirus as at Sunday, April 5, and a total infection of 142

Out of 530 samples tested within the last 24 hours, fifteen Kenyans and one Nigerian national tested positive to the disease.