By Alex Yomah
Lofa County brings to seven the number of counties now recorded of the new variant coronavirus in Liberia as Grand Bassa County also recorded one since the resurgence of the virus recently.
The Voice of Liberia (VoL) Lofa County Correspondent reported that as of yesterday, June 21, 2021, Lofa County’s health team confirmed 13 new cases; a news that has caused panic among residents in Voinjama.
What is more troubling is that the correspondent disclosed that health team is yet as discover where the virus had travel from and or who might have been the carrier of the virus to that past of the country.
Initially, the news reported that the index case in Lofa was an old-lady who had traveled from the county and that information still remains a doubt to many wondering who then might have been the carrier.
The Bong County Correspondent expressed that with the report of 13 persons being confirmed in Lofa which shared border with Bong County, since the announcement was made, the Bong County health team is yet to institute measures that could curtail the spread of the virus in that part of the country.
“In Bong County, bike riders are still carrying two or three passengers despite coronavirus resurgence; normal activities are still ongoing, schools are jammed pack. With the news this morning that our sister county recorded 13 confirmed cases, we are worried because our borders are porous and worst of it, we are not taking preventive measures,” the journalist reported.
Currently, Liberia has a total of 3,047 confirmed cases with 52 new ones as of June 1 till now while the active confirmed cases stand at 832 and the total deaths toll have risen to 95 since the reappearance of virus. Liberia has a recovered number of at least 2,120 with about 15 new recovery cases.
The Chief Medical Officer of Liberia, Dr. Francis Kateh, has reiterated calls that all Liberians as well as non-Liberians take all precaution measures to combat the new variant of the coronavirus to avoid contamination in communities.
He said the new variant of the coronavirus disease has taken a dimensional severity that can infect more than one person in a violent way more than before and if care is not taken, the new virus might increase the number of confirmed cases on a daily basis.
The Chief Medical Officer has therefore cautioned all Liberians to remain calm and said now is the time to begin to put all hands together and fight the deadly disease from the community level, up to the national level.
“We all need to ensure and work together and combat the new variant. As we speak, there are five counties that are in response now, and those counties are Bomi, Montserrado, Margibi, Bong, Lofa and Maryland,” Dr. Ketteh reminded.
According to Dr. Kateh, having a response indicates that there are active cases in a particular locality and that those localities now become hot zones noting that the Health Ministry has started a vigorous case investigation and contact tracing in order to move on to another level in terms of the alert system.
He said samples of Liberia’s new confirmed cases that were tested will be uploaded to the general public and assured that if care is not taken by observing all precautionary measures, there is a probability that Liberia might have a huge number of confirmed cases that would cause serious instability in the country.
He mentioned that the coronavirus has shown a new variant in the country, and so with this new variant, every time, it will mutate, meaning that the reaction of the virus seems to be very strange in a violent move and the infection rate is very high.
The Chief Medical Officer disclosed that the new variant of the coronavirus disease has the ability to infect more persons quickly while those that are infected and in treatment units find their conditions are becoming severe.
“So, we all have to be very mindful. If you are sick and experiencing fever or other symptoms like cough, cold and so forth, you know how they are treating you and it is a bit different from the previous one, please go and do your coronavirus test,” Dr. Ketteh pleaded.
He added; “Because people are always saying that it is common cold, so they will choose to go to one drug store or another until it gets severe. Majority of the patients are on oxygen. If you remove the oxygen, they will certainly die, indicating the severity of the virus.”
He expressed that at the beginning of the coronavirus, people at treatment units were noted for taking “selfies” while undergoing treatment all because they never believed that there was something called coronavirus, but as of today, no one at the treatment unit has the strength to even take picture neither to talk. They are oxygen-dependent.
“Again, we are giving the first dose of the vaccine at the Ministry of Health, which will help to minimize the severity of the virus. As we are all observing the precautionary measures, let us encourage our friends to take their vaccine in order to stop the infection rate in the country,” Dr. Ketteh stated.