Nairobi hotel releases student detained over Sh45,000 coronavirus isolation bill
A Nairobi hotel has released a Kenyan student it had detained over a Sh45,000 bill she had accumulated during her Covid-19 isolation stay.
Nairobi News exclusively reported last week that Mayombe Odubah had been detained at Pride Inn hotel by uniformed policemen after a government order that everyone arriving in the country be isolated for two weeks at their own cost.
“I have been transferred to another place. My parents got to an agreement with the hotel management and paid Sh15,000 (instead of the Sh45,000),” said Odubah.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe explained that the isolation was aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the country as the number of those testing positive for the deadly disease keeps rising with each passing day.
The 20-year old law student at Middlesex University in Slic-en-slac, Mauritius earlier explained to Nairobi News that the police took her to the Sh9,000 a day hotel despite her notifying them that she could not afford the bill.
She also wrote a letter to the Ministry of Health explaining her financial position, a document which is in possession of Nairobi News indicates this.
“Most passengers refused to go to the hotel but police forced and threatened us,” she explained.
Odubah added that she tested negative for the coronavirus in Dubai on her way back home but was ordered into self quarantine on landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as was directed by the government.