COVID-19 Resurges In Liberia With 171 New Cases – Health Authorities: MONROVIA, June 14 (LINA) – Health authorities in Liberia have announced the resurgence of the coronavirus disease in the country, with official stats showing a total of 171 new cases recorded in just three days. According to the Ministry of Health, Liberia is now experiencing its third wave of the virus after 171 new cases of the virus were recorded recently. Addressing a news conference at the Ministry of Health in Monrovia, the Chief Medical Officer of Liberia, Dr. Francis Kateh, disclosed that the 171 new Coronavirus cases were recorded from June 7-9, 2021.
Kateh said the new confirmed cases were recorded from samples collected from travelers, adding that a total of 237 active confirmed cases are currently undergoing treatment either at a home or at a treatment center. The Chief Medical Officer emphasized that the number of new cases being recorded speaks volumes to the fact that the virus is still in Liberia and as such Liberians should take precautionary measures as a means of containing and curtailing the virus. “As we have said over and over, this virus is not over until it is over,” Kateh said, pointing to the fact that “as long as the virus still exists in other parts of the world, it can resurface in Liberia as in the case of the 171 new confirmed cases pronounced by health practitioners.”
“As long as there is one country in this world that still has COVID-19, the probability of Liberia coming back into this thing is likely, because Liberia is not an island,” Dr. Kateh noted. He emphasized that the number of confirmed cases recorded in the past three days is critical for the country, taking into consideration the high rate of infection recorded in just three days in the third phase of the virus. The Liberia Chief Medical Officer cited that during the first phase of the COVID-19 infection, the apex of the graph showed that Liberia recorded 168 cases while in the second phase, the country had 106 cases as the apex, compared to the third wave which has recorded 171 cases in just three days.
Kateh noted that the new cases recorded have exceeded the first and second phases at the apex which, according to him, needs to be addressed on a timely basis. Dr. Kateh explained that the global calculation of the wave at which COVID-19 is progressing stands at 5.7 percent, which denotes the probability that one person with COVID-19 can infect another six persons. Kateh lamented that if the 5.7 percent global infection rate is calculated by the 171 cases recorded in the past three days in Liberia, then the country should be having about 975 confirmed cases. He asserted that if the number 975 is held constant, then there are 804 cases out in the various communities on grounds that only 171 cases were recorded by health practitioners.
“So if those 804 persons continue to stay out there and begin to infect other people, just imagine the number and where we are going to go,” Dr. Kat1eh lamented. Meanwhile, Liberian Health Minister, Dr. Wilhemina Jallah stated that the Government of Liberia with immediate effect has reactivated all health protocols that previously existed to combat the virus. She named the wearing of face masks, washing of hands, and social distancing, among others, as measures that need to be implemented for the containment and subsequent curtailing of the virus.
Dr. Jallah stated that complacency on the part of the public has led to the resurgence of the virus in Liberia, pointing out that after a decline in the number of cases in the country, people went back to business as usual contrary to the health protocols. She called on the public to come up whenever they are observing any symptoms of the virus, noting that there is no stigmatization about COVID any longer on grounds that everybody is at risk of contracting the virus. She warned COVID-19 patients who are in home-based treatment to comply with the health protocols or risk being subjected to the treatment center for attention. For his part, the head of the Case Management Team of COVID Liberia, Dr. Jerry F. Brown, stated that the responsibility of his team is to ensure that individuals who have been tested positive for COVID-19 are managed appropriately.
Dr. Brown disclosed that the Incidence Management Team of Liberia under the leadership of the Health Minister of Liberia is currently caring for patients in the mild, moderate and severe categories. He revealed that the Incidence Management Team has divided its treatment into home-based care and treatment care at the hospital because of the aforementioned categories. Dr. Brown clarified that the infected person’s home has to meet the standards set aside by the Health Ministry for home-based care. The head of the Case Management Team added that a team under the Incidence Management System in collaboration with the county health Teams from all counties has been sent to assess the individual’s house to ensure that people adhere to the rules governing the treatment.
“If you meet the criteria, we have a guideline that we certainly share with them and advise them to stay home while we monitor the health situation until the test is repeated and comes up with a negative result,” Dr. Brown noted. He emphasized that if the individual under the home-based treatment condition worsens, then the team will arrange a transport mechanism to get that person from their home to the nearby treatment center, depending on the patient’s locality.
