Mandera Deputy County Commissioner Abdikarim Dubat has revealed he was forced to set free 32 people quarantined in Mandera due to the poor conditions in the centre.
The 32 were being quarantined in El Wak Town after travelling by bus from Nairobi on Wednesday, April 8 despite the cessation of movement directive.
In an interview with the media, Dubat revealed that sympathy led to the release of the 32, "These people were not being given food. There were no toilets and water at the county offices where they were being held."
"There were no plans to provide anything that was needed. That forced us to set them free," he explained.
On Tuesday, April 14, it was reported that the 32 had escaped from quarantine following a letter from County Executive Ahmed Sheikh addressed to Mandera South Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Abdihakim Dubat.
“I write to register our displeasure with the manner in which 32 people out of 66 passengers disappeared from quarantine facilities under the watch of police officers," the letter read in part.
"We were holding these people because of the curfew since they arrived at Elwak town last week.
"With the county government suspecting that the bus had come from Nairobi, we were pushed to place the group into forced quarantine," the Deputy County Commissioner explained.
Dubat added that they recorded information of those quarantined in case anything came up later, "We don’t have a gazetted quarantine facility in Elwak and still, there is nothing we can use to hold people under medical observation."
"Before setting them free, we gathered all the necessary information in case any case arose among them," he informed.
He also noted that none of the 32 travellers showed any symptoms of Covid-19 and added that the group had been screened at Garissa, Wajir, Kutolo and Elwak.
As of Thursday, April 16 Mandera had a total of six positive cases and ranks among the highest counties with the deadly virus.
On Friday, April 17, Kagwe gave his presser at JKIA revealing that the country had 12 more positive cases, bringing the total number to 246.
