By Bill W. Cooper
Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Francis Kateh has disclosed that Sinoe, River Gee, Grand Kru and Maryland counties will anytime soon be declare COVID-19 free if they complete their remaining incubation periods.
He said that the incubation period is 28 days, with Sinoe having remaining 13 days, River Gee 14 days, Grand Kru 14 days and Maryland 24 more days, emphasizing that if their remaining days are completed, the four counties will again return to the preparedness stage, which he said is a big win for the country.
Dr. Kateh made the assertion yesterday, May 28, 2020 when he addressed a team of reporters at the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) regular COVID-19 update at the MoH in Congo Town.
The country’s Chief medical officer among many things indicated that other counties that are still on the response stage are Gbapolu, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Margibi and Montserrado Counties, which he said Montserrado County has now recorded the highest with the total number of 221 confirmed cases.
“Those who are still in the preparedness stage and have not confirmed of any COVID-19 case includes Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Bong, Grand Geedeh and Rivercess counties respectively,” he said.
Dr. Kateh added that the reason for the country’s improvement in the fight against the virus is because of the frantic efforts exerted by their healthcare workers, which he said are working relentlessly, noting that they as health authorities will continue to do everything in the clout to ensure that the country defeat the pandemic.
He alluded that for the past two days, they were able to collect over 200 samples, of which three of the samples tested on the 27th of May came back positive, while five of the samples repeated positive of the virus, averring, “So the cases modality at the 14 Military Hospital is about 1 percent, and the sooner one turn his/her self in, the better their chances of surviving the pandemic.”
The country’s chief doctor then urged the citizenry to follow their (health authorities) lead in ensuring that they do their voluntary test in order to their status, boasting that the government now has enough testing kits in the country to do as many tests as possible without any shortage.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kateh has said as much as the country is striving to defeat the virus, the death rate has now augmented to 27 with 144 recoveries, 98 active or alive with the total confirmed cases accumulating to 269 as of May 27, 2020.