NAIROBI, Kenya – 15 out of 83 Kenyan students who flew in from Sudan have tested positive for COVID-19, authorities said.
The group arrived on Saturday, and were immediately tested and taken into isolation awaiting test results.
“When they arrived on Saturday, they were all taken for quarantine at Kenya School of Government, Mombasa. We also took away samples for testing,” said Dr Khadija Shikelly, the County’s Chief Officer for Health who confirmed that 15 were positive.
The group that flew in was part of 129 Kenyan students who had been stranded in various universities in Sudan since the outbreak of COVID-19 early this year.
They were unable to fly back after Kenyan authorities closed the airspace for passenger flights on March 22.
“They have been transferred to Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) Covid-19 Treatment Centre,” Shikelly said.
They arrived aboard a Kenya Airways flight chartered for them at their own cost, which was paid by Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, Lamu East MP Athman Shariff, Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa and Mombasa businessman Suleiman Shahbal raised the funds for the students.
Some of the parents are said to have raised part of the cost.
