By Umaru Fofana
The authorities in Sierra Leone have ordered a COVID-19 retest on 85 people who were deported from Kuwait on Friday.
67 of them tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday 24 May, prompting concerns from Freetown and Kuwait City.
“We have collected two samples from each of all the 85 arrivals, and two laboratories will carry out the retest”, says Brigadier (Rtd) Kellie Conteh who is the head of the country’s Covid19 response and defence minister.
He told Politico that the country’s testing regime was vigorous and kits among the best in the world, but that he was happy to carry out another test on the people amid concern and puzzlement from some quarters.
The puzzlement has come chiefly from the country’s ambassador in Kuwait City, Haja Isatu Thomas.
Ambassador Thomas told Politico that each of the deportees was tested at the airport in Kuwait, issued with a negative result certificate before they were allowed to board the waiting flight.
She said the same protocol was followed for hundreds of Ghanaians and Guineans who were also deported.
All the more than 200 Ghanaians have reportedly tested negative in Accra after they were subjected to another test at home. The Guinea deportees are said to be quarantined in a hotel and it is not clear whether they have yet been tested on arrival in Conakry.
Ambassador Thomas said they all flew direct to Freetown “without transiting anywhere”, wondering how they could have tested positive on arrival in Freetown.
The testing at the airport in Kuwait lasted 15 minutes per person, prompting one expert at the EOC in Freetown to say that could have been rapid testing that was not as efficacious as the one carried out in Sierra Leone.
The 67 who tested positive are among 100 new cases recorded for the country today. It more than doubles the previous highest daily jump.
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