There was panic among residents of Dabani Sub-county in Busia district as a sickly looking man collapsed at the roadside and died.
Residents on Monday evening found the body of the unidentified man, who appeared to be aged in the mid forties, along Majanji road in Dabani West village in Dabani Sub-county.
According to residents, the deceased came in the area on Sunday looking sickly, got stuck and sat under the tree shade at the side of the road. They became suspicious and distanced themselves, with some claiming that he could be a Covid-19 patient.
The deceased whose life was in critical condition and required medical attention spent the whole night in the cold, then stayed under hot sunshine the following day on Monday without help and died in the evening hours. His body was found lying near Dabani hospital fence.
This left residents in the area in panic, with some alleging that they could now be infected with the new Covid-19 variant as they suspect the deceased to have died of the Indian variant which is rumored to be in neighboring Kisumu, Kenya.
The dead body remained lying along the road for more than 2 hours until Stephen Bali, the L.C.3 chairman of Dabani Sub-county made a phone call to police for action.
According to residents, the deceased came in the area on Sunday when was sickly, got stuck and sat under the tree shade along the road. They became suspicious, distanced themselves suspecting that he could have an infectious disease.
Abdallah Karim Waiswa, a boda-boda rider at Dabani stage says that they feared moving close to the deceased because was showing signs of severe illness. They instead reported to nearby police station for intervention but nothing happened until the man died.
Billey Oguttu, a resident says that the deceased was critically ill and everyone feared to go where he was. The man slept in cold last night and it also rained on him but they couldn’t help because they suspected that he was coronavirus patient.
Stephen Bali, the L.C.3 chairman Dabani Sub-county says that he received a report from concerned residents on Sunday evening about unknown man suspected to be sick. He also reported to police and the office of resident district commissioner about the matter for intervention but nothing happened.
Mathew Tusubira, the Busia deputy resident district commissioner asked residents to remain vigilant incase they become suspicious of someone with the corona virus symptoms and urged them to always report to the nearest police for intervention.
By the time of filling this story, the body had just been taken by police to the mortuary at Busia Health Center IV awaiting postmortem report.
