Covid-19: Homa Bay nurse who tested negative dies from collapsed lung
A test kit used to determine whether someone has Covid-19.
What you need to know:
- The 32-year-old from Rachuonyo Sub-county contracted the virus at 33 weeks of pregnancy and gave birth normally.
- Her baby was found negative after several tests but was placed in the nursery for close observation.
A Homa Bay County nurse who had Covid-19 and gave birth to a healthy baby a fortnight ago, while on oxygen support, died Sunday.
Kisii County Public Health Director Richard Onkware said the nurse died at 4pm after about two weeks of battling the disease.
The 32-year-old from Rachuonyo South Sub-county contracted the virus at 33 weeks of pregnancy and gave birth normally.
She tested positive on July 20 and gave birth on July 24 at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital. She had tested negative three times, including on July 29.
"Unfortunately, we have lost her. One of her lungs collapsed due to Covid-19," Dr Onkware said on Sunday.
Her baby was found negative after several tests but was placed in the nursery for close observation.
“NO NEGLECT”
The nurse’s husband and her other close contacts went into self-quarantine.
The nurse had claimed that she was abandoned by ICU staff and that no one wanted to attend to her after it was established she had the dreaded disease.
Kisii County Health executive Sarah Omache denied the allegations.
“The patient was transferred from Rachuonyo South Sub-county Hospital to KTRH, with a history of difficulty breathing, coughing and chills, and was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit,” Ms Omache said.
She said the patient was moved to an isolation centre after testing positive and was well cared for, contrary to the claims that she was shunned.
“We quarantined her contacts, including relatives and medics who handled her in the ICU. Claims that she was abandoned are false,” Ms Omache said and assured patients of quality care at the facility.
