At least 455 people have been quarantined at different facilities across the country for flouting curfew rules, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said on Monday.
Addressing the media during the daily COVID-19 briefing, Kagwe said the individuals were found outside their homes between 7pm and 5am against the stipulated curfew hours.
“Once you are out during curfew hours, it is assumed that you have now been exposed and therefore you will be taken to a quarantine site at your own expense,” the CS said as he announced 11 new cases of COVID-19.
This comes just hours after Dr Mercy Mwangangi, the Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) warned that persons found outside their homes during curfew hours will be quarantined for 14 days.
“Going forward, fellow Kenyans, all those who break the curfew rules will be assumed to have been in contact with suspected cases and hence will be quarantined for a period of 14 days,” Dr Mwangangi.
Read: Persons Found Outside During Curfew Hours To Be Quarantined For 14 Days – Health CAS
Several government officials are among Kenyans who have in the recent past found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
For instance, Rware Ward MCA Paul Kanyari was among 17 people, who were arrested on Friday inside a bar in Nyeri County during the curfew hours despite a ban on social gatherings.
On April 10, an Army colonel and a magistrate were arrested alongside 28 other people during a raid in a bar in Nairobi’s Embakasi estate for similar offences.
The government imposed the dusk-to-dawn curfew on March 27, as part of the measures to encourage social distancing and prevent the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). CS Kagwe said people were being “careless” at night.
The curfew exempts essential groups such as medical practitioners and persons/businesses offering essential services.
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