News

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone is among seven African countries that will participate in the first phase of a study on a treatment option for Covid-19 on the continent, Politico learnt last week.

Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Morocco will administer the coronavirus antibody tests as part of the study that seeks to understand the extent of the outbreak on the continent.

By Kemo Cham

The Sierra Leone government is to establish standard pharmacies across the country as part of its drive to discourage consumption of fake drive, the Ministry of Health said.

Health Minister Prof. Alpha Tejan Wurie was quoted last week saying that pharmacies will be established in all 190 chiefdoms across the country, so that Sierra Leoneans can have access to affordable drugs.

The government, according to Prof. Wurie, hopes that this will mitigate fake drug peddling, which poses a major health threat to the population.

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone has begun using a centralized public dashboard which provides near-real-time updates on the country’s response to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic.

The portal, which was launched in the first week of August. will provide information that include containment efforts and spatial information on critical resources, officials said.

By Kemo Cham

Almost the entire leadership of the District Coronavirus Emergency Response Center (DICOVERC) in Sierra Leone’s southern Pujehun District has gone into quarantine after the driver of the Coordinator tested positive for the virus.

DICOVERC Coordinator, Mohamed Kemokai and seven other members of his team comprising the co-team of the district’s response effort, went into quarantine over the weekend, a spokesman said.

By Francis H. Murray

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the bail application of the convicted former defense minister, Alfred Palo Conteh, who is serving a twenty-four month jail term for illegal possession of firearms.

Conteh was convicted last month after about three months of trial on charges including treason and illegal firearms possession. He was cleared of the treason charges but found wanting for the firearms possession. His lawyers are appealing against the conviction for firearms possession.

By Mabinty M. Kamara

President Julius Maada Bio has highlighted progress his government has made in revamping the tourism industry in Sierra Leone, in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

He was speaking at the launch of a bailout package for the hospitality sector.

By Kemo Cham

More signs of crack within the leadership of the embattled opposition Coalition for Change (C4C) party has emerged with the imposition of a court injunction against its current executive committee.

The High Court in Freetown slammed the injunction on Tuesday, 12 August, ordering the executive committee of the country’s third largest party in Parliament to desist from undertaking any official activity until a decision on a petition is taken by the court, according to courts document seen by Politico.