Malawi court allows four Chinese nationals to leave quarantine facility

Four Chinese nationals were on Thursday granted an injunction allowing them to leave a quarantine facility at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) and enter Malawi, two days after their arrival from China.

The Nation newspaper reported that the four arrived in the country from China with ten other people on Tuesday but were not granted visas due to the threat of the coronavirus.

On Wednesday, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services sent back the other 10 to China and the four remained because they did not have return tickets.

While under quarantine at KIA, the four Chinese nationals advised their Malawian lawyers to apply for an injunction against their deportation and continued isolation.

The court order obtained on Friday by Lilongwe-based lawyers, Wilkinson & Associates, and granted by Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda ordered the Immigration Department to remove the four from quarantine and allow them to enter the country.

Judge Nyirenda did not hear from the Department of Immigration or their lawyers before granting the injunction

“The four took advantage of the time they had to sort out the tickets and instructed their lawyers to seek the court’s relief. Their lawyers got the injunction which was served on us today [Friday, March 20] before the departure time of their flight. We have complied with the court order, we had no choice,” said Department of Immigration spokesperson at KIA Martin Gongolo.

The Chinese nationals have been identified as Lin Xiaoxiao, Liu Zhigin, Wang Xia and Tian Hongze.

Meanwhile, Malawi on Friday imposed a travel ban on foreign nationals from countries highly affected by the covid-19 disease.

The government also closed schools and banned mass gathering in a bid to manage the threat of the disease in the country.