COVID-19: African countries called to maintain surveillance measures

02 Mai 2020

Brazzaville, Congo, May 2 (Infosplusgabon) - The World Health Organization (WHO) for Africa Friday invited African countries to maintain their strong surveillance measures to fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19), a statement said.

Against the COVID-19, several countries of the continent have taken partial or total confinement measures to stop the spread of the epidemic.

Those measures have “contributed to slow down the spread of the pandemic, but it remains considerable threat for public health”, said the statement issued by Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.

It is however important to maintain the strong measures of surveillance, detection of cases and tests among other dispositions to end the pandemic, said the statement.

According to WHO/Africa, if governments brutally end the measures, there is bigger risk to lose the gains which countries have achieved so far against the coronavirus. The African continent has recorded more than 36,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 1,500 deaths mostly in central and western African regions.

Despite efforts made in the domain of COVID-19 screening, countries of the African region carry out nine tests in 10,000 persons on average.

But the “WHO is trying hard to improve the screening capacities by sending a new series of test kits to Sub-Saharan African countries”, added the statement.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/MPO/GABON2020

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