By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The head of surveillance for Kenema district attached to the district Health Management Team (DHMT) has expressed concern over a drop in the compliance rate of Covid19 regulations in the district.
Speaking to Politico, Koi Alpha said that “Since 2020 to date which is over 148 days now Kenema district has not recorded any new case of Covid19”, but said he was worried over the lack of compliance from the people especially relating to the use of face masks and handwashing
“Even among health workers they are not complying with the use of face masks even at work,” Alpha said.
He added that it had become a concern to the DHMT and that the hospital management would summon a meeting for all staff to institute compliance of Covid-19 measures.
Meanwhile the Kenema District Medical Officer, Dr. Donald Grant said the rate at which the country was recording new cases of Covid-19 was worrisome and Kenema district would be at risk if enforcement of the law was not executed,
“There is all likelihood for Kenema to record new cases of Covid19, since more new cases are arising from other parts of the country and people are traveling every day. 90% of the public are not using face masks and it’s not good for the district and for the country,” said Dr. Grant.
He stated that the authorities in the District needed to reactivate the Covid-19 measures, noting that people were quick to forget that the virus was still in the country and new cases were coming up daily.
He explained that the health workers were always updated about the pandemic especially at their monthly in charges meetings and were therefore expected to be compliant.
The DMO urged all health workers to ensure that the necessary infection prevention and control measures were adhered to.
The Kenema District Covi-19 Coordinator, Umaru Vandi Kondorvoh said that the social mobilisation wing was out there to continue public sensitisation before the enforcement, adding that there were no new measures on Covid-19 but that it’s the same rules that had been in place which needed to be enforced.
“It’s not only in the city that people are not using masks, even at the district level and most unfortunate aspect is the elite in society are the ones misleading others,” he lamented.
Kondorvoh reiterated that the manner in which cases were coming up after the festive period was a cause for concern.
“The virus is still ravaging Western countries that have more medical advancement than Sierra Leone. Let us not trivialize the issue of Covid19, it's real,” he said.
He assured the people of Kenema district that the DiCOVERC was on a daily basis linking up with the security apparatus in the border crossing points to be vigilant in monitoring those coming into the country especially from the neighbouring countries.
“We should not be complacent over obeying the law, it's about ourselves and our people,” he said.
The District has so far recorded a total of 127 confirmed Covid-19 cases since the outbreak of the disease in the country in March 2020.
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