This archive report was first published on 6 August 2020.
On August 6, 2020, Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha announced that schools being used as quarantine facilities would be evacuated a month before reopening in January 2021.
Magoha's directive comes after a number of parents expressed concerns about the safety of the schools being used as quarantine facilities following a number of positive COVID-19 cases.
As of August 6, 2020, a total of 431 institutions were being used as quarantine facilities across the country.
Magoha had previously outlined plans to disinfect schools after being used as quarantine centres following consultations with Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
During his state address on July 27, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced plans to temporarily convert sports stadia, education institutions, and other government facilities into COVID-19 isolation centres.
Magoha stated, "We have since agreed that, if in principle we are moving towards September, we shall disengage as those places. We shall make sure that those institutions are thoroughly fumigated and tested the way we do in medical practice which means we shall dust certain areas and see whether there is anything else, so that is the least of my worries," he explained.
Students and outdoor sporting activities were put on hold back in March after the country announced its first COVID-19 case.
