Woman accused of contacting Coronavirus Covid-19 disease reportedly commits suicide in Samburu

Woman accused of contacting Coronavirus commits suicide [Video]

Charles Ouma

March 21, 2020 9:28 AM

County health officials set the record straight that she had been treated for tonsillitis and high fever

File image of a patient in quarantine

A Kenyan woman has reportedly committed suicide after she was accused by her family of exhibiting symptoms related to the deadly Coronavirus.

Nation reports that the woman who hails from Samburu had shown flu-like symptoms which her family took for Covid-19.

Samburu County officials however set the record straight that the woman in question had been treated for tonsillitis and high fever at a medical facility in the country.

The death of the woman is the second one in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has swept across the globe.

Two days earlier, a man in Kwale county was attacked by a mob which accused him of contacting the disease and placing the lives of many in danger.

A report published in the Daily Nation indicate that George Kotini Hezron was accosted by a group of youth while heading home from a drinking spree.

The youth accused him of suffering from coronavirus and took advantage of his drunken state to rough him up, leaving him for the dead.

Msambweni Sub-County Commander Nehemiah Bitok confirmed that "While heading home, he met a group of youths who attacked him, accusing him of suffering from coronavirus".

The two deaths perhaps point to the glaring misinformation that the government has been grappling with in the wake of the pandemic.

Health CS Mutahi Kagwe during one of the briefings on Covid-19. Don’t expose your child at home - CS Mutahi warns parents hiring tutors to homeschool children Pulse Live Kenya

The government is not treating fake news surrounding the COVID-19 lightly and has arrested at least two people over the same (Among them is blogger Robert Alai and Elijah Muthui Kitonyo who was arrested for what DCI termed as spreading fake news).

Charles Ouma