From a solitary case in March, Gambia’s coronavirus infections have morphed into a torrent over a five-month period, statistics from the country’s health officials seem to suggest.
“From a trickle in March to a torrent in August…corona is now a full-blown health crisis in our hands” is how a public health worker at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital puts it.
Speaking from Gambia’s biggest referral hospital where eight health workers contracted the virus last month, the medical practitioner who wishes to remain anonymous laments to APA: “We health workers are struggling to keep up with the rate of infections and the risks are enormous for us front line combatants against the pandemic”.
Critics of the government’s Covid-19 response have always complained that its regulations lacked bite with the current surge in cases as proof of their ineffectiveness.
The alleged disappearance of a laptop holding “life and death data” on the government’s strategy at a time the virus has been gaining ground, has not helped to inspire confidence.
However, in recent weeks, ambulances and medical equipment have been flown in from overseas to give impetus to the crusade against the marauding disease.
The unfolding health crisis has forced the government’s hand with face masks compulsory and state prosecution and a D500 fine for offenders.
People wearing face masks are a regular sight in The Gambia since the government declared their use mandatory as health officials scramble for the right response against the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
Fearing stiff sanctions by an empowered Gambian police to enforce this health regulation, five out of every seven people venturing out either cover all their faces save their eyes or wear them half-way down their chins as a precaution.
Almost in locked steps with the pace of infection, what was then a lax use of health safety regulations in The Gambia has suddenly given way to a more muscular implementation of the state directive.
Thus in recent days, Gambian streets have seen a colourful explosion of face masks donned by commercial drivers, commuters, motorbike riders, pedestrians and hawkers going about their business apparently alive to the risk of infection.
Even public and private institutions such as banks, hospitals, pharmacies and corner shops remaining open for business in spite of a new lockdown, turn away people not wearing them for fear of going against the government’s emergency regulations.
Those found to be doing business with unmasked members of the public could be sanctioned with heavy fines, APA has learnt.
The regulation on face masks began to be enforced on Monday August 3, after weeks of a sustained spike in coronavirus cases, with community infections notable in urban settlements where opinion is divided over whether Covid-19 is real and dangerous or constitutes an idle illusion.
The Gambia currently has 671 infections of which 572 are active cases, according to the Ministry of Health which also confirmed 14 Covid-19 deaths since March.
Three of President Adama Barrow’s cabinet ministers have been confirmed with the virus days after his vice-president Dr Isatou Touray tested positive for the respiratory illness.
President Barrow has since gone into quarantine, leading to speculations about his health.
WN/as/APA