Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe has confirmed that Kilifi County Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi has coronavirus disease.
The Health CS said those who came into contact with Mr. Saburi, who defied an order to self-quarantine, are now in self-isolation.
Mr. Saburi sparked anger after it emerged that he refused to self-quarantine as directed by the government after jetting back into the country from Germany.
Health workers fumigated the offices where Mr. Saburi is said to have held meetings with Kilifi County officials shortly after arriving from Germany.
Mr. Saburi is said to have traveled to Germany mid-February and jetted back March 6, 2020, via Amsterdam.
On March 7, the deputy governor met a group of Rabai MCAs at Royal Hotel in Mazeras for preparations of the International Women’s Day function in Rabai.
He had breakfast with the MCAs before proceeding for a burial of the late former Deputy Governor Kenneth Kamto’s bodyguard.
On his trip to the burial, Mr. Saburi was accompanied by Rabai MP William Kamoti and afterward, they returned to Royal Hotel in Mazeras.
He is said to have attended three other burials and two weddings in between.
On March 18, he is said to have accompanied his driver to a place called Karama Mbuzi in Majengo area of Mombasa where they had a sumptuous meal of Ugali and mshkaki (roast meat on a stick).
The following day on March 19, he was spotted in a night club in Bamburi where he mingled with a number of revelers.
On Friday of March 20, again, alongside his driver they took refreshments at Cafesserie-Mombasa within Nyali center where he also mingled with a number of revelers for several hours before he left for his house in Bamburi.
It was on this day that Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced that the government is tracking a suspected patient in Kilifi who happened to be the DG.
Sources said he was approached by health officials where his samples were taken and advised to self-quarantine but he declined.
On watching the CS’s live address, he reportedly left his home in Bamburi secretly and went to a house in Mtwapa where he reportedly went hid.
However, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi reportedly dispatched county askaris, leading to a dramatic arrest as Mr. Saburi resisted.
The county askaris took him to Coast Provincial General Hospital in Mombasa where he is said to have been hospitalised in an isolation center.
