By Bill W. Cooper
Health Minister, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah has said, the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) are working closely with the Joint Security team to institute a new measure aimed at prohibiting the movement of the citizenry after the 6:00 P.M. “Stay Home” order.
Recently, as a means of curtailing the spread of the COVID-19 and affording citizens the ample time to get their daily-bread, President George Weah on May 22, 2020 instructed the entire citizenry to be indoor by 6:00 P.M. instead of the previous 3:00 P.M. mandate, while at the same time extended the “Stay Home” order by additional two weeks throughout the country.
Speaking yesterday at the MoH and the NPHIL regular COVID-19 update at the MoH office in Congo Town, the country’s Health Minister lamented that it has been a normal tradition for citizens to violate measures given them to curtail the spread of the virus and as such, any inhabitants who will be observed outside after 6:00 P.M, said individuals samples will be collected for possible testing of the COVID -19 virus.
According to Dr. Jallah, the government will anytime soon deploy their Lab Technicians at various officers’ check points to ensure that any citizen who will be found in the street after the stay home order, said individual samples will be collected and tested, indicating that if said person is tested positive of the virus, he/she will be taken to the 14th Military Hospital for possible treatment.
She added that the Joint Security officers will also be visiting various undercover entertainment centers to ensure that vehicles that will be seen with the COVID-19 stickers will be impounded as well as the owner of the vehicle’s driving license and the COVID-19 sticker stripped off by the state security.
Dr. Jallah further urged the entire citizenry to be a law abiding citizen by adhering to all the preventive measures instituted by the government in order to avoid any future embarrassment, stressing, “We are all aware that the stay home order starts at 6:00 P.M, so we expect everyone to be in door exact 6:00 P.M., and as such, if we follow our government’s instruction, together we can defeat COVID-19.”
Giving his COVID-19 PowerPoint statistics, Liberia’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Francis Kateh said as it stands, the country has now recorded additional 8 new confirmed COVID-19 case accumulating the total number of cases to 288, with 157 recoveries and 104 active or alive, while the deaths still remain at 27 as of May 31, 2020, adding that only three deaths occurred in the treatment unit.
According to Dr. Kateh, counties with confirmed cases since the outbreak of the virus in the country includes; Gbarpolu 6, Grand Bassa 6, Grand Kru 1, Lofa 3, Margibi 25, Maryland 1, Nimba 7, River Gee 1, Sinoe 2, and Montserrado county which is known to have the highest cases of 236, alluding that COVID-19 confirmed cases by gender are female 102, and Male 186.
He averred, “The country’s deaths by counties are: Gbarpolu 2, Lofa 2, Margibi 1, Nimba 4, and Montserrado county
8, and recoveries by counties are as follow: Grand Bassa 3, Grand Kru 1, Margibi 12, Maryland 1, Nimba 2, River Gee 1, Sinoe 1 and Montserrado 136, while Female death is 7, Male 20, and Female Recoveries 62, and Male 95 respectively.