Nairobi prison locked down due to Covid-19 outbreak

Nairobi Remand Prison in Industrial Area.

Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Visits to the prison remain suspended as authorities try to contain the spread of the disease.
  • Of the 64 new cases recorded in Nairobi in the past 24 hours, 35 were found in the prison.

A Nairobi prison has been locked down due to a coronavirus outbreak affecting 35 detainees at the facility, the government announced Tuesday.

Visits to the prison remain suspended as authorities try to contain the spread of the disease, Health CAS Rashid Aman said on Tuesday.

Dr Aman said 55 percent of the confirmed cases in Nairobi in the last 24 hours came from the remand prison. 

The Health official said the prison will not be receiving any remandees from starting on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health reported 137 new Covid-19 cases which pushed the nationwide total to 39,586.

The ministry also reported eight more fatalities and 296 more recoveries raising the respective totals to 743 and 26,331.