Tension has gripped residents in Athi River, approximately 26 kilometres southeast of Kenya’s capital Nairobi, after some of the Chinese passengers who landed in Nairobi on Wednesday quarantined themselves in the town.
On Wednesday evening, Machakos public health officials were called in to calm nerves at the town’s Sidai estate after one of the passengers sought to isolate himself there.
Mr Qi Xiao Li, 35, who travelled from China’s Anhui Province, had struck a deal with a colleague who lives in the estate to help him stay in isolation for 14 days as ordered by Kenya’s Health ministry and the Chinese embassy in Nairobi.
Mr Qi Xiao Li, is said to have been brought to the estate from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by an Uber taxi wearing a face mask and ushered in by his colleagues all in masks.
The occupier of house No 312 moved to stay in his place of work at Athi River Business Park to create room for quarantining the visitor.
But there was a problem: other tenants got wind of the plan and were not ready to roll out the welcome mat for the man who works in one of the industrial parks in Athi River.
