High Court Judge Justice James Makau has directed that the government issues a report on measures it has taken in response to a case filed by two doctors, as reported by Citizen Digital on Tuesday, March 3.
The judge had ordered the government to quarantine 239 passengers who arrived in Kenya aboard a China Southern Airlines flight on Wednesday, February 26, 2020.
“We should get a report as to the position so far. This is a serious matter. It’s an issue of life and death,” Justice Makau ruled on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
The two doctors had filed a petition in court on Friday, February 28, seeking to have flights from China or any other World Health Organisation (WHO)-designated hotspot barred from entering the country in the wake of coronavirus fears.
According to the publication, the doctors' lawyer argued before the court during the Tuesday, March 3 mention that the government was yet to trace, reexamine, and even quarantine the passengers at a KDF facility, or any other guarded facility.
The government, through lawyer Emmanuel Bitta, requested it be granted additional time to prepare the documents and present them before the court.
Bitta argued that the court instructs the 239 passengers to follow its set directive, further noting that the orde was against persons not involved in the case.
“It’s important they be enjoined. The orders also limit the entry of Kenyan citizens emanating from certain countries going by the way they have been framed,” Bitta stated.
In the ruling, the judge ordered Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe to undertake the role, to protect Kenyans from any infections from the deadly virus.
Judge Makau had suspended the flights after another suit was filed by the Law Society of Kenya on Friday, February 28, 2020.
LSK had filed a case against the government proposing the suspension of all flights from China to Kenya amid rising fears of Coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The lawyers noted that the world was already in a global health crisis because of the outbreak of the virus.
“Pending the hearing and determination of the application a conservatory order be issued suspending the respondent’s decision to allow the China Southern Co. Airlines Ltd resumption of non-essential flights from China to Kenya,” the court papers read in part.
The lawyers' body further asked that the Ministry of Health prepare and present a contingency plan to the court on prevention, surveillance, control and response systems to coronavirus in the country.
