By Anthony Newman Levey in Bo
A Community Health Officer has become the first health worker to die of Covid-19 in Sierra Leone.
Vandy Sombie, who was the index case of the viral disease in the southern Bo District, died on Monday 4th May, authorities confirmed.
The late man was admitted at the Government Hospital in Bo for days before he was later transferred to Freetown where he died on Monday, the District Covid-19 Emergency Operation Center (DEOC) told Politico. They said his test result came in just a day before his death. He was buried on Tuesday, 5th May.
Sombie worked at the Government Hospital in Bo and the Bo Children’s Hospital prior to his illness.
There are concerns now that more cases could be recorded in Bo in the coming days.
The DEOC Coordinator in Bo, David Fortune, said that up to more than three dozen people were now in quarantine as a result of Sombie’s case.
"Ten nurses are in quarantine at the Bo Government Hospital, 18 at the Bo children's hospital, 12 of the family members residing in Bo Reservation Quarters have also been quarantined,” Fortune told Politico.
He added: “Thirteen other family members including a councilor are also quarantined in a school at Njala Komboya. Twenty-One other contacts will be quarantined at the Two Stars Guest House.”
Fortune noted that contact tracing was still ongoing.
Politico understands that the CHO treated his brother just days before the former fell ill. The brother, who is named Ngor Margai, later died and more than 300 people attended his funeral in Bo.
It is not clear yet how the CHO came in to contact with the virus, but sources say he might have contacted it after treating a patient from Mattru Jong, Bonthe district.
Bonthe was the first district in the Southern region to record a COVID-19 case. Its number of cases has since rose to 10 as of Tuesday, 5th May.
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