Blantyre District Director of Health and Social Services, Dr. Gift Kawalazira, says the eight capitalized on darkness at a time they were being isolated from their fellows.

He said they were among the people government repatriated from South Africa which is in a lockdown and they are being kept at Kamuzu stadium.

“The buses which ferried the people arrived in Blantyre through Mwanza during the night and these people took advantage of the darkness and absconded the quarantine center.

“With the immigration department, we are tracking them and looking at their documents,” he said.

Dr. Kawalazira said they have engaged police to tighten security at Kameza quarantine center.

He said the danger is that “they will be moving around while trying to elude authorities. Chances that they may not be following the laid out preventive measures are very high.

“People need to understand that it is not punishment but we are only doing this to protect the general public. It is very important that we should all coordinate and work as a team; that is the only way we can survive from COVID-19.”