Coronavirus: Kenya introduces mandatory quarantine for violators of control measures

20 Avril 2020

Nairobi, Kenya, April 20 (Infosplusgabon) - A paramedic who ordered an ambulance crew to help a group of partying youth evade the coronavirus-imposed curfew in Nairobi has been sacked for gross misconduct, an executive from the ambulance services firm said on Sunday.

E-Plus Ambulances Managing Director Susan Ng'ong'a, said the company sanctioned the sacking of an employee who ordered an ambulance crew to transport the group of partying youth during the curfew hours.

The partying youth posed for photographs and posted to social media pages, at one point toying with bottles of alcoholic drinks while inside the ambulance, showing them off as only patients being transported in the emergency vehicle, according to a local television station, Citizen TV.

Ng'ong'a said one of the ambulance company's employees ordered the ambulance crew to transport a family member during the curfew hours, in violation of the laid out regulations aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.

Ng'ong'a said the government should take action against all the people involved in the violation of the curfew and the social distancing regulations meant to slow down the spread of the virus in Kenya.

Kenya has recorded 270 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, which has started to spread within the community at an alarming rate, with 44% of the current rate of infections being linked to local transmissions.

The number of those who have died has risen to 14 people, even with an increment in the number of recovered patients.

Health Ministry Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi said on Sunday that the government would send to mandatory quarantine facilities, anyone found in violation of the curfew regulations.

Television stations locally have broadcast images of people willfuly violating the curfew hours days after a major public uproar, forced the Police and other security agencies to go slow on their tough enforcement of the curfew regulations.

Kenyan health authorities are battling to slowdown the spread of the virus within the local community, especially in the wake of an eruption of new cases in nearly all major urban settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa.

Kenyan medical workers on the frontline are reporting a few infections of the medical personnel and the healthcare workers, including those involved in cleaning surfaces at the hospital facilities.

In the wake of an apparent laxity by the general citizenry to observe the social distancing requirements, such as avoiding unnecessary travel out of Nairobi, the capital, Mombasa and other towns, the government has been warning for the spread of the virus to every neighbourhood.

Health Ministry Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the authorities were forced to test a group of people who drove from Nairobi to the western rural county of Homa Bay, on the banks of Lake Victoria, after using an empty coffin to pass Police checkpoints.

The people traveling in a private vehicle, evaded the patial lockdown against the movement in and out of Nairobi to travel the 400 km journey, before a suspicious Police Commander, ordered for an inspection of the coffin.

The coffin was empty, but the driver of the private vehicle tested positive for coronavirus, which became the first case of the virus in Homa Bay.

"There is no estate in Nairobi and Mombasa without an individual who has tested positive for the coronavirus disease," Kagwe said.

Nairobi's upscale neighbourhood, Karen, the preserve of Kenya's rich and powerful, has reported the bulk of the coronavirus cases.

Karen reported five cases, the densely populated Pipeline estate, near Nairobi's gateway, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, also had five cases. In the Small and Medium Businesses hotspot of Eastleigh, the local business community ordered all the businesses shut for a week to allow the authorities to enforce the social distancing requirements.

Kagwe said the shutdown was necessary because a senior Muslim cleric, who was going house-to-house to preach during the shutdown of places of worship, died of the virus.

However, a hawker in Eastleigh, said  the shutdown of the businesses and malls in the area, 4km from downtown, Nairobi, was meant to lock out hawkers selling the same wares sold in the shopping malls.

"We have told people not to leave Nairobi and people are still sneaking out of Nairobi. Why are you calling for a total lockdown when you cannot even lock yourself down. Lock yourself down. You do not need President Uhuru Kenyatta or Kagwe to lock you up," Kagwe said.

Kagwe said all health workers, whether security guards or the receptionist must wear personal protective clothing and a face-mask.

"If we do wear the face masks, observe social distancing and hand-washing, we can be a perfect example of the people who have been able to defeat a disease which has defeated many other people in many areas around the world," Kagwe said.

Meanwhile, the government has denied reports the country's main psychiatric hospital in Nairobi's Mathari, was sending away patients for fear of spreading the virus.

"I am not aware of cases where the hospitals are discharging patients to protect them from Coronavirus," Kagwe said.

An opinion poll published on Sunday, showed about 87% of the population trusted the chief health Secretary as a more credible purveyor of the coronavirus information.

The Secretary scored above President Uhuru Kenyatta, at 85% while 77% trusted the media as a purveyor of accurate information on the coronavirus disease.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/ASD/GABON2020

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