By Nasratu Kargbo
National COVID-19 Emergency Response Centre (NaCOVERC) has on the 17th June 2021 warned people to brace up as the country experiences the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at the government’s weekly press briefing in Freetown, the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, who also doubles as the Spokesman for NaCOVERC Solomon Jamiru said: “we have gone past our first wave, we have gone past our second wave which was around January and recently the World Health Organization has alerted us of the third wave, which is a very aggressive moment in the pandemic”.
For the period May 25th to May 31st, he said out of about 3,139 “three thousand one hundred and thirty-nine) samples collected 21 (twenty-one) positive cases were registered; the positivity rate at that time was about 0.8”. He said “from June 1st to June 7 of about three thousand four hundred and twelve samples we registered about sixty-one positive cases, the positivity rate for that week was 1.8” and “from June 8th to June 16th we registered about two hundred and ninety-seven positive cases and the positivity rate is over 5%”.
As of yesterday 17th June, the country had recorded about 407 (four hundred and seven) positive cases.
Jamiru said NaCOVERC experts have looked at the epidemiological data to advise the government on the dimension that the pandemic is assuming at the specific time. He continued: “the epidemiological data which is properly anchored on the advisory received by WHO strongly suggests, that Sierra Leone is currently witnessing a third wave of the pandemic”.
He said most of the cases recently recorded are from health facilities and that on 5th June twenty cases were recorded of which ten came from health facilities”. He explained that having such a rate coming from health facilities shows that the country is having a number of infections that are symptomatic because one would only go to the hospital when one is sick or has signs and symptoms.
Jamiru explained how he spoke with the co-lead for case management who indicated that 34 Military Hospital has about 84% of cases in the treatment center there. He advised the public to mask up, wash hands with soap and clean water, practice social distancing, and also advised government officials, the press, civil society, and all those whom society look up to as exemplary figures to observe the same.
He said the vaccination policy has been revised and that anyone who is thirty years and above can take the vaccine.
Harold Thomas who is part of the NaCOVERC Communication team explained that the country is in its sixty-fourth week since it marked its first COVID-19 case on the 31st March 2020.
He noted that in the last seven days, the country recorded two hundred and fifty-four new cases, as compared to the previous week’s record of ninety-five. This he said clearly indicates that there is an increase in the number of cases on a daily basis. He noted “all of these statistics suggest that Sierra Leone and Liberia have entered the third wave.”
Thomas also stated that the number of inbound positive cases stood at one hundred and fifty-five, apart from the four thousand, three hundred and ninety-eight positive cases recorded within the community, highlighting community spread.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (18/06/21)
