By SAH TERENCE ANIMBOM
The quick rise in cases of COVID-19 in the North West Region is sending chilling cold down the spines of many as the question of who, who and who might have come in contact with the infected persons that are now quarantined at the Azam Hotel quarantine center, is recurrent.
All confirmed cases in the region have a travel history with Douala within the last month and inhabitants of the region especially Bamenda are blaming government and the North West administration for allowing entry of the disease into the region. “If our governor had simply banned travelling or movement into or out of the region, we will not be here. How do we now know who and who have been in contact with these infected persons? Right now we are all at risk” Ernest, a Bamenda inhabitant told The SUN.
Dr Kingsley Che Soh, North West Regional Delegate of Public Health in a press release jointly announcing the 3rd, 4th and 5th cases revealed that the third case is a woman who had been exposed in Douala and who according to her was rejected three times in a health facility in Douala and so she decided to travel to Bamenda on April 22, 2020 for COVID-19 testing.
“She has expressed the wish to invite over her husband and four children with whom she lives with in Douala to Bamenda for COVID-19 testing”, the release states.
Adding to the third case, the fourth is a man and the fifth his mother, both living in the same house in Bamenda. “They were reportedly exposed when they recently received some visitors coming from Douala a couple of weeks ago and were only suspected and sent for COVID-19 testing when they consulted two days ago at the regional hospital Bamenda for respiratory symptoms.”
According to the press release issued by Dr Kingsley Che Soh on behalf of the North West Governor, President of the North West regional COVID-19 Response Committee, all five cases are being managed in the appropriate health facility while their contacts including those of the second confirmed COVID-19 case are presently being traced and their homes disinfected by the Rapid Intervention and Investigation Team of the North West regional delegation of Public Health.
“The governor of the North West region while expressing his sincere gratitude to his Excellency the Minister of Public Health for creating a functional testing centre for COVID-19 in Bamenda, calls on the entire population of the North West region, to limit interurban travels as much as possible and scrupulously respect the following hygienic measures to prevent the spread of the disease”, the regional delegate added.