Covid-19: Lanet Barracks put under total lockdown
Lanet Barracks on the outskirts of Nakuru Town has been put under total lockdown. PHOTO | FILE | AFP
What you need to know:
- The suspected coronavirus positive person is said to have visited an apartment where her sister lives with her husband, a KDF soldier at Lanet Barracks.
- A source told the Nation that at least 50 KDF soldiers were strategically positioned at Umoja Primary School to ensure the residents do not leave the quarantine centre.
As the country grapples with coronavirus pandemic, it is now emerging that Lanet Barracks on the outskirts of Nakuru Town has been put under total lockdown. This drastic move comes after one of the soldiers allegedly came into contact with a Covid-19 patient.
HEAVILY GUARDED
Moments after the news broke out at the barracks, security was stepped up and no one was allowed in or out of the heavily guarded premises.
“All Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers have been instructed not to step out of the barracks until 14 days elapse,” said a source who requested anonymity.
Tension is high at Lanet Umoja estate after unknown number of persons were allegedly ferried in a lorry and into forced quarantine at Lanet Umoja Primary School.
The suspected coronavirus positive person is said to have visited an apartment where her sister lives with her husband, a KDF soldier at Lanet Barracks.
BUILT HOUSES
Most of the soldiers working at the barracks live in the neighbourhood where they have bought land and built houses.
On Thursday Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, in his daily briefings on the pandemic confirmed that a 20-year-old woman who had travelled from Mombasa to Nakuru was isolated at Nakuru Provincial General Hospital where she was receiving treatment.
“What we have established so far is that the infected woman was from Mombasa and had travelled to Lanet where her sister and her husband were residing,’ said the source.
The source added: “The victim was staying with the sister whose husband is a military officer at Lanet Barracks.”
When the news broke on Thursday, the tenants at the apartment were taken to Umoja Primary School and quarantined for 14 days as search for people who came in contact with the residents of the apartment intensified.
QUARANTINE
A source told the Nation that at least 50 KDF soldiers were strategically positioned at Umoja Primary School to ensure the residents do not leave the quarantine centre.
Efforts by the Nation to get comments from KDF Public Affairs Spokesperson, Colonel Paul Njuguna were unsuccessful as he neither responded to our calls nor our text messages.
However, Nakuru County Health Services Executive Kariuki Gichuki denied any knowledge of a quarantine centre at Umoja Primary School.
“We do not have a quarantine centre at Umoja Primary School,” said Dr Gichuki.
