Coronavirus: Benin to screen travelers at Cotonou airport

14 Mai 2020

Cotonou, Benin, May 14  (Infosplusgabon) - The government of Benin will begin the systematic screening of all travelers arriving at Cotonou airport to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.

It said the measure aims to better secure the country and ensure that any passenger disembarking at Cotonou airport is not a vector for the spread of the virus.

"We learnt that each arriving passenger, whether Beninese or foreign, will have to pay 100,000 CFA francs to be tested," the ministry said.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Benin systematically quarantined all passengers for 14 days and screened them at the end of the quarantine.

With 2,5471 tests (PCR + TDR) carried out since 3 May, Benin recorded a total of 327 confirmed cases as of 12 May 2020 with 242 people under treatment, 83 people cured, and 2 deaths.

"...The substantial increase in the number of cases is justified by the mass screening that has begun in some target groups, including teachers (in view of the resumption of classes) and health workers," reassures the government which proceeded, on Monday, to lift the "cordon sanitaire" around the 15 communes considered very critical and the partial opening of schools to save the school year.

According to the government, the lifting of the cordon sanitaire (A cordon sanitaire is the restriction of movement of people into or out of a defined geographic area) in no way marks the end of the pandemic in Benin. The respect of sanitary measures, especially barrier gestures (systematic handwashing with soap and water, wearing a mask everywhere, respecting the sanitary safety distance of 1m, ...) are, among other things, the measures to be strictly respected to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the country.

On 16 March, Benin confirmed its first case of infection with COVID-19, from a 49-year-old Burkinabe who had previously stayed in Belgium and in his country.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/SDC/GABON2020

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