Siaya Covid-19 victim’s kin leave quarantine after 18 days

It was song and dance outside KMTC's Siaya campus on Wednesday evening, following the release from forced quarantine of 17 relatives of the county's first Covid-19 victim, James Oyugi Onyango.

After the former Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) employee died on April 12, family members including his two widow, brother and son were quarantined and tested for the coronavirus.

They walked out of the Kenya Medical Training College at about 4.30pm and returned to their home in Kamalunga village home after a fourth round of tests that showed they did not have the virus.

The family refused to take tests on Tuesday, claiming county health officials had been mistreating them.

They were released after 18 days in quarantine.

"FREE AT LAST"

Oyugi's brother Zack Onyango, who had been detained alongside his wife and children, said he was happy to be free again.

"We are tasting the joy of freedom again. I am free at last. It felt like we were in jail so it is exciting to be free at last," he said.

Oyugi's first widow, Rosemary Oyugi, was at the KMTC with her three children and five grandchildren while his second widow, Celine, was there with her four children.

Rosemary said, "Each time we got news of others being released, the extended stay became more torturous. We prayed for negative results. We are grateful to God for answering our prayers."

Celine said, "It was tough to be thrown into confinement hours after losing my husband. It has not been easy. We hope the authorities will continue to support us through counselling."

HURRIED BURIAL

The family recounted the night before Oyugi's hurried burial, saying it was the worst experience they had ever had.

"You cannot wish it on your worst enemy. It is hard to [forget it] but we pray that God will give us the strength to live with it no matter the trauma," Zack said.

He thanked the public for support and said he hoped for an opportunity for a decent burial for Oyugi.

A petition that two members of the family filed, seeking to have the body exhumed for reburial, is pending before the High Court in Siaya.

Judge Roseline Aburili, who is handling the matter, will on Thursday rule on an application by Malaika Foundation, a civil society organisation, to join the case as an interested party.

The judge is also expected to give further directions on whether parties should file additional submissions before she can set a date for the judgement.

Oyugi's sister Joan Ajuan'g and his son Brian Oyugi, filed the suit on April 16 against the Simur-Kondiek chief, the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Health.

The court directed that the suit be amended to include the county health department, noting that it is a constitutional  petition that requires canvassing by all relevant parties.

TESTS

Speaking to the Nation after the family was released, Siaya Health executive Dorothy Owino said that by Tuesday, 46 samples had been collected from Siaya KMTC and Urenga KMTC in Ugenya Sub-county.

They were taken to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) in Kisumu County for analysis.

Mrs Owino said a total of 20 people were released from quarantine on Wednesday after the tests found they did not have Covid-19.

She said about 26 other samples were being tested and that a total of 575 samples had been tested in Siaya by April 29.

"We will continue to release those being held once the quarantine period ends and results show they are negative. They are advised accordingly on what to do once out of the facilities," she said.

Mrs Owino further said that a total of 306,749 people had been screened by surveillance teams at the Siandumba, Akala, Sega and Luanda Kotieno road blocks.

The Nation established that most of the people in quarantine were those picked up by surveillance teams after recently sneaking into the county from Nairobi.

"We rely on the public for information about people who recently travelled back to the county. The surveillance teams then carries out investigations. In cases where the information relayed to us turns out to be correct, we pick up the cases and have the people quarantined," she said.

POLICE COMPLAINTS

Meanwhile, some of the police officers manning screening points have accused the county's Covid-19 response team of sidelining them in distribution of food and protective gear.

A police officer at one of the check points told the Nation that they were being forced to buy face masks even though public health teams receive them from the county response team.

"We work with them and face the same challenges and risks so we can't understand why they ignore us when providing protective gear to the medical team," said the officer who did not want to be named.

He added that while medical teams received lunch allowances from the county kitty, police officers were not getting any allocations.

"We don't even have water and when they eat lunch provided by the same response team, we only stare," he said.

A senior police officer, who sought anonymity, said he was aware of the complaints while County Commission Michael ole Tialal declined to comment on the issue.

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