This archive report was first published on 4 August 2020.
On August 1, a grave mistake was made in Kisasi village, Shamakhokho location, when health officials buried the wrong body.
At 9 pm, they were forced to exhume the body of Linus Simwa, a clergy and chair of the Vihiga Referral Hospital board, who had tested positive for COVID-19.
According to reports, the team had buried the body of a man believed to be COVID-19 negative instead of Simwa's.
It was only after the man's family came for the body and could not find it that the mistake was discovered.
"Several customs had to be performed because we do not know the man who had been buried here," Shamakhokho location chief Modlyn Imbayi stated.
Imbayi added that it was a strange encounter for a family to bury the wrong body in the area.
Simwa had succumbed to COVID-19 on July 29 at the Vihiga Referral Hospital while the other man had died shortly after being admitted at the hospital.
They were both placed in body bags and taken to the mortuary.
Meanwhile, families of those succumbing to the virus have been forced to pay extra expenses after the facilities increased body storage charges.
These additional charges have been bestowed on the families because the bodies need to be fumigated and disinfected in line with the Ministry of Health guidelines.
As of now, Kenya has recorded 22,597 cases. Of the cases, 8,740 have recovered while 382 have succumbed to the virus.
