CI-NEWS

War against COVID-19: NW Health Delegate screens over 3,000 travellers at entrance to Bamenda

2020-03-23

No: 478

War against COVID-19: NW Health Delegate screens over 3,000 travellers at entrance to Bamenda.

Dr. Kingsley Che Nsoh, Regional Delegate of Public Health for North West Region, along with a team of medics, carried out a campaign Saturday, March 21, 2020 to screen travellers entering the region as the country battles the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Although the North West Region has not registered any known case of the COVID-19, Saturday’s screening exercise at Matazem in Santa, gateway to the region, was aimed at pushing back the virus and also raise awareness.

Dr. Che Nsoh says “prevention is better than cure”. This may well account for that fact that as early as 4 a.m., the health team was at Matazem to systematically screen and sensitise commuters.

Hear Dr. Che Nsoh: “The known cases are in Bafoussam, Douala and Yaoundé. Today, we left our houses at 4 a.m. and came here at the Matazem Toll Gate because we know that more than 1,000 people pass here every day to Bamenda and it is the main entry point. The objective of our exercise today is first of all sensitisation. We want people to be aware of all the WHO measures that they are expected to respect so that they don’t get infected with the Coronavirus or transmit it to other persons.

“The second thing is that we want to look for risk factors. So we are screening them for temperature. And we are asking them questions to know if they are coming from abroad, because we know that there are many cases abroad. And we also want to know if they have come in close contact with any of the confirmed cases in Yaoundé, Douala or Bafoussam. So far, we have been able to screen 3,100 persons. Fortunately, we have not been able to get a suspected case yet. If we did, we would have taken the case to the regional hospital and quarantined the other passengers. We’ll continue this exercise daily, morning and evening, for 14 days renewable.

“We have sensitised them on the government measures and the need to wash their hands with soap and clean running water. We are sure they will be our mouthpiece when they go to the various Divisions. We have told them to avoid crowded places.”

At press time, Cameroon had announced 40 known cases of the novel coronavirus. Government has thus ramped up measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, including closing its borders, schools and restricting gatherings of more than 50 persons among other restrictions for a 15-day period renewable.

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War against COVID-19: NW Health Delegate screens over 3,000 travellers at entrance to Bamenda