By Kemo Cham
The Sierra Leone government has declared wearing a facemask mandatory for everyone in public spaces.
The move announced on Tuesday, April 14, is meant as a preventive measure against Covid-19, amidst rising levels of community transmission of the virus in the country, officials said.
“Government has now made it mandatory for everyone to wear a facemask in public spaces as well as adhere to all Covid-19 measures,” a statement from the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation said on April 21. It added that enforcement measures would be announced soon, while urging the public to ensure that everyone secured their own facemasks before then.
The government particularly favours the use of cloth facemask, in order to avoid shortage of the imported ones and to allow health workers to have an unhindered access to the medical grade masks which are said to provide maximum protection.
“GOSL [Government of Sierra Leone] will like to commend those individuals and organizations that have been providing cloth facemasks free of charge to members of the public and would like to encourage others to do likewise,” the statement added.
The development comes amidst growing number of new cases in the country.
The EOC also declared the Western Area a hotspot for the Covid-19, as it accounts for majority of the cases with most of the contacts under monitoring.
As of last week, only five among the country’s 16 districts had recorded cases: Western Area Urban, Western Area Rural, Port Loko, Tonkolili, and Kenema.
Brig. Kellie Hassan Conteh, the head of the National Covid-19 Response Team, said evidence of rapid transmission of the virus was justification for the emphasis on the use of facemasks.
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