Raila speaks out after Kibra residents were accused of exporting Covid-19 to Siaya County

Special AU envoy Raila Odinga on Friday addressed the growing cases of Covid-19 in Kenya including the common modes of transmission witnessed over the past weeks.

While speaking to reporters, the ODM party leader urged Kenyans to avoid crowds especially in funerals.

He advised bereaved families to maintain a crowd of 15 people and to bury their loved ones where they die to avoid traveling far distances.

The former Prime Minister's statement came a day after Health CS Mutahi Kagwe highlighted an incident of a group of people who left Kibra to escort a body for final rites in Ugenya, Siaya County.

"The Siaya story is a sad one because the departure point is in Kibera where someone without the authority to sign a document authorized travel of the mourners who were themselves positive," CS Kagwe explained while announcing that nine of the mourners had since tested positive for Coronavirus.

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"Kwa upande wa matanga, ikiwa mtu amefariki...tusizidi na ule uzoefu wetu wa mara kwa mara wa kukusanyika kama vikundi. Mambo ya kuzika wafu iwe ni jukumu la jamaa peke yao. (When it comes to funerals, let us cease with our normal customs of meeting together to comfort the bereaved. Let the responsibility of administering final rites remain with the immediate family and let it involve only 15 people who will go their separate ways afterwards)," the former PM advised.