Somalia embassy situated in Eastleigh, Nairobi has been conducting parallel Covid-19 tests on Somalia nationals without involving the Kenyan government.
In an exposé by Citizen TV, it emerged that more than 13 Somalia nationals tested positive of Covid-19 on Monday after being tested by the Embassy, but the results were not shared by the Kenyan government.
The government of Somalia had called on Somalia nationals in Kenya who wanted to be evacuated back to Somalia at their own cost to register with the embassy.
It is not clear why the Somalia embassy decided to conduct the tests without involving the Kenyan government. The embassy is yet to issue a statement.
Currently, there is a cessation of movement in and out of Eastleigh put in place by the government to reduce the skyrocketing number of infections that were being reported in the area.
Residents of Eastleigh have, however, blamed the officers manning the roadblocks for soliciting bribes from locals and for preventing vehicles carrying essential goods and services from accessing the place.
Somalia has 1,421 confirmed cases of Covid-19, a total of 156 recoveries, and 56 deaths. The numbers have been increasing in Somalia as a result of the majority of the failure to observe social distancing.
Over the weekend, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the closure of the border between Kenya and Somalia apart from trucks transporting cargo. Currently, people from Somalia are not allowed to cross over into Kenya to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Uhuru Kenyatta also closed the border between Kenya and Tanzania. Truck drivers from Tanzania were to be allowed into Kenya upon being tested at the border. President John Pombe Magufuli was, however, infuriated by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to close the border and order total closure of the border between Tanzania and Kenya.
Magufuli maintains that there is no Covid-19 in Tanzania.