This archive report was first published on 8 May 2020.
On May 8, 2020, a matatu driver's quick thinking helped prevent a potential COVID-19 outbreak in Embu town. The driver, Samson Kariuki Nyaga, had picked up passengers from Kitui County, but one of them revealed they were from Kilifi County, which was under partial shutdown due to the coronavirus.
“A passenger said on phone that he was almost reaching Embu from Kilifi. I recalled that Kilifi is on partial shutdown due to Corona and I feared that I may have been exposed by those passengers and would infect my family and the community. I called the Neno Sacco office which then reported to the police,” said Kariuki.
County Police Commander Daniel Rukunga confirmed that his officers, along with public health and enforcement officers, intercepted the matatu at the bus terminus and directed it to the Kenya Medical Training Centre (KMTC) Embu campus for testing and quarantine.
Of the nine passengers, two were from Kitui County, while the others were from Kilifi. Rukunga stated that the two passengers from Kitui would be prosecuted for traveling from Kilifi without authorization, as the government had imposed a travel restriction in Kilifi County to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Public health officers were also searching for a passenger who had alighted from the matatu, and Rukunga urged them to turn themselves in at the quarantine facility.
Embu Public Health Director Rosaline Kaugi announced that the county had prepared several sites for quarantine centers, including the KMTC, Kenya School of Government Embu Campus, Camp David Hotel, and Whispering Hills Hotel.
