At least 455 people who were arrested for defying the presidential orders to observe the dusk to dawn curfew aimed at curtailing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have been put under mandatory quarantine across the 33 isolation centres in Kenya.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said this approach will serve as a deterrent to others who do not take the government’s directive seriously

“We have quarantined 455 persons at our isolation facilities for defying the national curfew regulations and this will be at their own cost” he said.

Kagwe emphasised that 11 more persons aged between 11 and 80 years have tested positive for the deadly coronavirus disease, bringing to 281 the total number of confirmed cases in the country, including 69 recoveries and 14 deaths.

“A total of 2,778 contacts have been monitored, out of which 2,102 have been discharged and 676 are being followed at the moment. A total of 13,872 samples have been tested so far,” he added.

The CS reiterated that “defeating coronavirus requires agile execution of testing and prompt management of confirmed cases and the country is determined to follow through such measures to contain further spread of the disease at all cost.

“Kenya just like other countries is grappling with ways of controlling the highly contagious pandemic and has adopted the mantra of, test, isolate-treat-trace methodology to address the challenge.”

With this approach, the CS said the country’s capacity for testing will be expanded from the current ten centres to cover at least one laboratory in each county and this would take effect in the next two weeks.

By Olajumoke Adeleke