COVID-19 in Bamenda: “We were misled…there is no coronavirus case” government says

The North West Regional Delegate of Public Health says there is no coronavirus case in the Region.

Dr Che Soh Kingsley speaking today Tuesday, April 7th 2020 in Bamenda, says contrary to an earlier announcement he and Governor Adolf Lele L’Afrique made yesterday, the supposed COVID-19 carrier is still in Douala and has not travelled to Bamenda.

“It will surprise you to know that there is yet no confirmed case of COVID-19 in the North West Region. There was a case in the Region… we were informed yesterday by the delegate of the West region that there was a positive case who left Kenya came into Cameroon and the results came out positive and when they got to that lady she said she was in the North West region” the delegate says.

The delegate says they were misled on phone. “When I called that lady she told me that she was somewhere in Momo division so getting it from the lady i was sure that there was a positive case” he goes further.

“From what she told me she arrived on the 24th or March. If we count the number of days we are certainly about two weeks today so ideally she was supposed to be in quarantine for two weeks.”

The lady’s specimen the Delegate says “was collected immediately she landed in Cameroon and we only got the results yesterday. That is why we started tracing her before she said she’s in Douala.”

“As we speak my team is on the way to go and pick her up but I’ve not had any feedback since there’s a network problem in Ngie. But I’ve been able to get to her and she says she’s in Douala” he says.

Stating that he has no idea yet whether or not the lady in question was quarantined or not, Dr Che Soh Kingsley says “I don’t know if she escaped from the quarantine centre, I don’t know what happened but what we know for sure is that she’s positive and we really cannot tell where she is but I have proof that she might not be in the North West Region.

The Regional Delegate of Public Health and the Governor have been criticised by some inhabitants of Bamenda for announcing such a piece of information without concrete facts. ” It is surprising that no medical doctor tested the woman positive of COVID-19 yet officials went ahead to announce to the public” a Bamenda city dweller expressed his thought.

The big challenge the Delegate explains, however, remains with the respect of preventive measures. The population he says “is seemingly not very sensitive to the measures that have been prescribed. But the good news is that some of the measures are respected like handwashing.”

Given the non-respect of social distancing, “it now becomes mandatory for the ministry of public health to prescribe obligatory putting on of masks as a barrier method” he recommends calling on everyone to remain calm.

As concerns a total shutdown, Dr Che Soh Kingsley says it is left for top officials to decide. “I think the central govt is still analysing the situation in Cameroon. Hierarchy is best placed to know when it will be recommended to do confinement because there are many factors that come in” he explains.

Monday, April 6th, the Governor of the North West and the Regional Delegate of public health mentioned that the woman escaped from quarantine in Douala and travelled to Bamenda in a seventy seater bus. They added that the lady equally visited Ngie village on a motorcycle.

Despite the recent information that there is no coronavirus in the North West as of today, the population has been called upon to respect preventive measures.

Cameroon currently has over 658 positive cases, with Yaounde and Douala being the most affected towns so far.

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