2, April 2020
Cameroon sees boom in number of COVID-19 cases 0
Nearly a month since the declaration of the first case of COVID-19 in Cameroon, the African nation is seeing a boom in the reported infections after having generalized the testing.
According to the latest numbers given by the health minister Manaouda Malachie, Cameroon recorded until Wednesday morning 233 confirmed cases, including six deaths and ten cured. The total number of confirmed cases was only 99 last Saturday.
“The time is bad enough for us all to realize,” tweeted Manaouda on Tuesday night, asking Cameroonians to stay at home for as long as possible, and to cover their mouths and noses when going out.
The recent surge in reported cases could be explained by the fact that the Cameroonian government has decided, since last week, to generalize the testing for a better response to the pandemic.
“Active and early case finding by generalized testing” was listed as the first axis of the “new response strategy to COVID-19”, said Manaouda via twitter last Friday.
To do this, the Cameroonian government invited people who have entered the country since March 10 to contact the health authorities to be tested. A door-to-door search will also be organized from April 2 to 7 in Douala, the most populous city in the country.
Other priorities of the response to COVID-19 are the qualitative management of cases with capacity expansion, social regulation to avoid the spread, and governance and accountability, according to the health minister.
A special fund has thus been created to implement these strategies. This fund has already acquired one billion CFA francs (about 1.67 million U.S. dollars), according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office published on Tuesday.
Source: Xinhuanet
4, April 2020
Cameroon records 203 new cases as COVID-19 tally hits 509 0
Cameroon’s coronavirus tally as of April 3 stood at 509, Health Minister Manaouda Malachie confirmed in his daily briefing posted on Twitter.
Of the current figure, 203 were new cases that came from tests run 800 travellers arrived in the country recently. Cameroon also has 17 recovered patients with eight deaths.
“Our active case finding strategy is starting to pay off. We did 800 tests (majority of travelers) 203 of them are positive but asymptomatic, that we must leave the community and treat,” the Minister wrote in his post.
Cameroon is the most impacted country across Central Africa. Only DR Congo have passed the 100 mark in the region with 134. Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Republic, Central African Republic and Chad have 21, 16, 22, 8 and 8 cases respectively.
The Minister in outlining government strategy to deal with the pandemic said six main measures were being implemented: massive and generalized testing, placement in immediate treatment of cases, active surveillance of suspect cases.
The remaining are awareness of the populations (hygiene, distance, etc.), border control and development of reliable local expertise for the response.
Source: Africa News