It is best and common practice for the Ministry of Health to quarantine all the people they suspect to have come into contact with a person that tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) in an effort to curb the further spread of the deadly virus.
On Monday this week, a Kenyan truck driver tested positive for COVID-19 at Elegu border point in Amuru District, and the Ministry of Health moved in swiftly to identify 16 suspects that might have come into contact with him, and moved into a newly established quarantine centre at Pabbo Secondary School in Amuru District.
According to the Daily Monitor, some of these suspects have turned violent to health workers at the facility and Amuru district officials pestering them with outrageous demands that cannot be provided to them in this situation.
The demands in question, according to Amuru Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and the head of the district COVID-19 taskforce Linda Auma, are alcohol and the herb that is miraa.
“They demand to be given alcohol and miraa, arguing that in their entire life, they have been on such substances and they cannot even go for a day without them,” Auma said.
Auma also said that as a solution to this, they are planning to have counsellors speak to the suspects, while Dr Patrick Okello Olwedo, the Amuru District Health Officer, said that they are also trying to get mental health experts to speak to them. Security has since been beefed up at the quarantine facility.
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, any suspected COVID-19 case has to be quarantined for at least 14 days, after which two tests are taken 24 hours apart and if they all come out negative, the suspect is discharged, otherwise they start treatment immediately.