Quarantined Woman Commits Suicide

A medical practitioner dressed in protective gear at Coronavirus isolation and treatment facility in Mbagathi District Hospital on Friday, March 6, 2020.
A medical practitioner dressed in protective gear at the Coronavirus isolation and treatment facility in Mbagathi District Hospital on Friday, March 6, 2020.
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

A woman killed herself after being taken to a government-designated quarantine facility on Thursday, March 26. 

Elizabeth Hollaway, a South African national had travelled back from South Africa and expressed reservations about the conditions at Kenya Industrial Training Institute (KITI), in Nakuru county where she was, alongside 3 others, under forced quarantine.

“Yesterday, she complained that the conditions are deplorable and had requested to be taken to a hotel she could afford, but the health officials were hesitant”, an individual also under quarantine at the facility told K24 Digital.

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) International Arrival Terminal. Thursday, February 14, 2020
A file image of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) International Arrival Terminal taken on Thursday, February 14, 2020.
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

The body was discovered by health workers who were doing their rounds as they checked the temperature of those under quarantine at the facility.

The woman was in her own room and had music blasting from the inside.

It was after accessing the room that they discovered the woman had hung herself using a piece of cloth just above the double-decker bed.

She was at Mai Mahiu on Thursday, March 26 before being taken to mandatory quarantine at KITI.

Kenyans have been complaining about the facilities they are being forced to quarantine at. The complaints have ranged from the cost of the facilities which they are being asked to incur themselves to the state of hygiene of the premises.

A photo of Health CS Mutahi Kagwe addressing the media outside Afya House on March 18, 2020.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe addressing the media outside Afya House on March 18, 2020.
Twitter

Earlier this in the week, one of the men quarantined at KITI, Samson Rutto, an athlete returning from a cancelled marathon in India, had pleaded for aid claiming he was starving.

CS Health Mutahi Kagwe had announced that all Kenyans flying back into Kenya from March 22 to March 25  would be placed under mandatory quarantine at their own expense.

The announcement also discouraged the sharing of rooms by those under quarantine.

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