Coronavirus: 14 People Escape From Quarantine Centre

General Updates

Posted by Shollay March 22, 2020

Breaking: Nigeria Records 10 New Cases Of Coronavirus

At least 14 people have escaped from Coronavirus quarantine centre in Gambia.

Naija News learnt that the Gambian authorities were yesterday searching for 14 people who broke out of a hotel where they had been quarantined as a coronavirus precaution and escaped, health officials, said.

The 14 people were said to be among 32 passengers who arrived on a flight from the United Kingdom on Wednesday and placed in quarantine in the hotel located in the capital Banjul.

Health Minister Ahmadou Lamin Samateh in a statement broadcast on Thursday said that some quarantined passengers “apparently became aggressive,” broke down the hotel gates and ran away.

The Gambian Health Minister added that the incident was “very, very detrimental” and created “risk for the entire nation”.

Gambia, recorded its first coronavirus case on Tuesday, when a young woman who had contracted the disease flew into the country from the United Kingdom

President Adama Barrow had on the same day announced measures to contain the deadly Covid-19, such as closing schools and placing arrivals from the affected country in quarantine.

Underscoring the difficulty of enforcing the rules, a health ministry director, Modou Njie, said that many passengers on Wednesday were uncooperative from the outset and squabbled about boarding the bus to the hotel.

The health ministry director added that 14 people in total later fled quarantine. “We are looking for them. We are trying to ascertain the nationalities of those who escaped,” Njie told AFP.