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At least 10 people in the Coast region are in isolation centres after exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19.

Mombasa County Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo said eight patients have been quarantined at the Coast Provincial General Hospital’s isolation centre, adding that test results were expected yesterday evening.

This comes as the county emergency response committee announced several measures, including closure of mosques, churches and temples for two weeks and a section of Kongowea market for a month to curb the spread of the virus.

“We are asking residents to take these measures seriously,” Kitiyo said.

Two French tourists are in isolation ward at the Msambweni Sub-County Referral Hospital. They arrived in Kenya on March 14 and stayed at Diani beach for a week.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe last evening confirmed the two had tested positive for the virus.

Speaking to journalists, medical officer in charge of Msambweni Kelvin Mbathi said they were supposed to go back to France on Saturday but on reaching the Diani airstrip, they were screened and found to have coronavirus symptoms.

Mbathi said the guests and staff of the hotel in which the two stayed had also been quarantined.

“There were nine in-house guests and 36 staff members in that hotel but we have quarantined all of them and are now awaiting medical reports,” he said.

Kwale County Chief Officer for Health Services Salim Mbete said the Kwale county government has set isolation rooms in all its four sub-county hospitals.

In Murang’a, police are looking for a man who believed to have arrived in the country from the United States last week but defied orders to self-quarantine. He is said to have proceeded to his home in Makuyu instead of self-isolating for 14 days.

“I have directed the area chief with the help of other officers to hunt down the man and the necessary action be taken against him,” said Murang’a county police commander Josphat Kinyua.

Residents have expressed concern that the man could be putting their lives at risk for failing to adhere to the quarantine directive.

In Karagita estate in Naivasha, there was tension when a flower farm worker was wheeled into the local health centre with symptoms similar to those of coronavirus.

An ambulance was dispatched to collect her but after screening it was established she was suffering from flu to the relief of residents.

According to the Chief Officer in charge of health in Nakuru County Samuel King’ori, the patient was stable. “The woman was treated for flu and is recovering. There is no reason to worry,” he said.

Meanwhile, there was relief in Nakuru after health officials announced the last three suspected Covid-19 cases had been discharged after they tested negative.

Clean bill

Nakuru Health County Executive Committee member Dr Kariuki Gichuki said the three were discharged on Saturday bringing total number of those who have been given a clean bill of health to eight.

“We don’t have any suspected case at our isolation facility at the moment,” the official said.

The three include a Rwandese truck driver who developed symptoms similar to those of the coronavirus at Salgaa while on his way to Rwanda from Mombasa.

The second case was a French national who was picked by emergency response unit at his hotel in Nakuru last week.

Gichuki said he had not shown any symptoms but was picked as a precautionary measure because he had arrived from a country which has reported Covid-19 cases. —Reporting by Munira Mandano, Kirera Mwiti, Njuguna Wangari and Noah Cheploen