On April 18, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe stunned the country when he announced that a truck driver ferrying an empty coffin to Homa Bay had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Kagwe said the driver who has been identified as Kevin had forged travel permits as did the family he was transporting.
“The governor of Homa Bay informed me of a group of people who travelled from Nairobi in a private vehicle pretending that they were attending a funeral, fully equipped with an empty coffin to illustrate that they were mourners.
“Those people travelled all the way from Nairobi to Homa Bay during this period when we have stopped movement. Thanks to the Homa Bay administration, somebody got suspicious, opened the coffin found and found out that it was empty,” he said.
But Kahawa Tungu did highlight that there in deed could have been a mix up.
The family the CS spoke of had travelled on Tuesday while that of the driver had departed for Homa Bay on Saturday at around 5 am.
According to the CS, he received word from the area governor Cyprian Awiti.
Fast forward to three days after the announcement that he had tested positive for the respiratory disease, Kevin has apparently not received any sort of treatment.
In a video that is circulating online, the now isolated driver says samples were taken at around 2 pm and was later informed by medics that he was positive.
“They took my samples at around 2 pm for testing. At night when everyone was asleep, I overheard the nurses asking who Kelvin was. Hence, I opened the door and told them I was the one.
“They asked if I was the driver and I told them I was. They told me that they had been instructed to take me to isolation because I had tested positive for Covid-19,” he narrates.
“Since they brought me to Malela, I have not received any medication yet they say I have tested positive for Covid-19, seriously, this is a dangerous disease, why don’t they treat me?” he poses.
The driver is speaking out. Honesty is key in every instance. We aren't honest from the start.
The govt is doing something else. They aren’t quarantining the sick. They are doing something else.
Handle funeral cases carefully. It will affect people in the near future pic.twitter.com/zOQKf4011n
— Robert ALAI, HSC (@RobertAlai) April 20, 2020
Kevin now wants relevant authorities to investigate the matter further.
Family members have also denied claims that their kin faked the burial plans.
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