Senegal goes tough on containing coronavirus

The West African sub-region has been facing serious threat of coronavirus spread but countries in the sub-regions have been fighting hard to contain the spread of the deadly virus. The Ministry of Health and Social Action in Senegal on Tuesday disclosed that 13 new cases of COVID-19 have been discovered, making the infection a total of 175 cases in the country.

report indicated that the Health Minister Abdoulaye Sarr, at the daily news briefing  on COVID-19 in Dakar, highlighted that the new cases include one imported case and 12 close contacts of earlier confirmed patients.

The statistics in Senegal shows that of the 175 confirmed cases, 74 were imported while others were through transmission within the country, and 40 patients were declared cured by local health authorities.

The Minister further disclosed two patients supported with ventilators are showing clinical stability.

The government has banned all international flights into the country till April 17 to prevent further importation of coronavirus.

Senegal has proclaimed a state of emergency, imposing dusk-to-dawn curfew effective from 8.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. daily. The government further prohibits
public meetings, directed temporary closure of public places and meeting places.