By Osoro Nyawangah,
MWANZA Tanzania
Cases of coronavirus
patients have increased to 258 in the East African Community region, paralyzing
business and halting travels across the bloc’s partner states.
Apart from
South Sudan, other five partner states; Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and
Uganda have reported COVID-19 cases.
So far,
Rwanda has recorded 82 coronavirus cases, and this only second to Kenya in
terms of numbers.
In order to
contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, the country ordered a 15-day
extension of the current two-week lockdown that was initially declared on March
21.
The lockdown
will now last until April 19.
Kenya on
Thursday recorded the highest number in a single day, after they recorded 29
new cases which brought their tally to 110 cases.
Uganda had
recorded 44 COVID-19 Cases while Tanzania has so far recorded 20 cases.
Burundi
which is also the region’s latest country to confirm coronavirus cases has
recorded 2 COVID-19 cases.
South Sudan
has not reported any case of the coronavirus pandemic so far.
Four deaths
from the virus have so far, where three patients have succumbed to the virus in
Kenya while in Tanzania one died.
Following the increasing
number of cases, the East African Community Secretariat announced that it will
deploy mobile laboratories and coronavirus test kits to all member states.
The
announcement also pointed out that each member state is set to receive a
four-wheel-drive vehicle fitted with laboratory and ICT equipment, as well as
all the necessary consumables for a fully functional laboratory with the
capacity to conduct tests for Ebola and the coronavirus in addition to other
pathogens.
According to
the secretariat, some EAC member states have implemented strategies to address
the outbreak at national level.
Among the
strategies include the suspension of all face to face meetings, closure of all
schools and tertiary training institutions, closure of air space and borders as
well as implementation of quarantine on arrival for travelers from high-risk
countries due to the outbreak.
As stands,
statistics indicate that more than 961,343 people have so far tested positive
with the deadly virus, leading to a total of 49,160 deaths, globally.
Over 200,000
people have recovered, while only 5% of the infected patients are in critical
condition.
Total confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa stands
at 6,681 - Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment