The Gambia has made the wearing of face masks in public compulsory with effect from Friday, July 24, as the country witness a spike in coronavirus cases.
Far from flattening the curve, Gambia’s coronavirus cases have soared to 146 infections since the first carrier of the virus was reported in March.
Since then five people have died and 57 have recovered from the disease.
The government which had introduced a state of public emergency more than three times in the past three months say people must now wear face mask to protect themselves and other members of the public from possible infection.
Health authorities warned that the mandatory use of face masks will be strictly enforced with on-the-spot penalty of a D500 fine for those not respecting this regulation among other health safety precautions not being rigidly applied by the government.
Aside from the imported light-blue ones, face masks made from local fabrics are already being sold for D50 by people cashing in on the situation to make brisk business.
In the first few days attending to the first infection in March, there was a mad rush for face masks but this enthusiasm soon petered out as coronavirus cases remained few and far between.
Four months on, the rate of contracting the virus has picked up steam with frontline health workers and journalists caught up in the latest waves of local person-to-person infections, hence the demand by the health authorities to wear them.
As the government’s crusade against the local rate of infection intensifies, a huge Antonov cargo plane arrived with 10 well-equipped ambulances to be used for intensive care treatment (ICU) and critical lifesaving medical work on Covid-19 patients.
Meanwhile, Turkey is sending a small ambulance plane to evacuate one of its citizens taken seriously ill with Covid-19.
WN/as/APA