Kenyan doctors have suffered the first coronavirus death from within their ranks after medical practitioner Doreen Adisa Lugaliki succumbed to the respiratory illness and was buried on Monday.

Dr Lugaliki is the first doctor in Kenya to die from the virus and her death has left her colleagues wary of the dangers of being in the front line of the fight against Covid-19. 

She was buried after a low-profile church service on Monday attended by few of her relatives.

Medical workers wearing heavy protective clothing had attended to her body.

Paying tribute to her, Chibanzi Mwachonda, deputy head of Kenya’s Medical  Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union described the day of her burial as Black Monday.

Dr Lugaliki, 38 was one of Kenya’s many front line health workers involved in hunting the virus and treating patients with sometimes minimal protective gears.

Since the outbreak of the disease in Kenya in March, some 200 people have died of the virus. 

Over 10, 000 have tested positive for the virus.