By Alpha Abu
There has been an alarming upsurge in the number of new infections of the coronavirus in parts of Pujehun district in southern Sierra Leone.
Official figures show that the district recorded three new cases of Covid19 on the 10 January 2021, after it had gone for 130 days without.
Mohamed T. Massaquoi, Public Relations Officer at the Pujehun District Covid19 Emergency Response Centre told Politico that a woman reported sick at the Pujehun public hospital on the 7 January and after screening and testing she was confirmed to be with the virus. The husband also tested positive. The third case is said to be a soldier with no known contact with the couple.
Massaquoi said all primary contacts of the three victims had been isolated and were being monitored for any symptoms of the virus.
He said there was the likelihood of transmission at community level since all the newly discovered carriers of the virus had no travel history.
It has also been revealed that a male worker for the construction company, CSE, in Zimmi also in Pujehun district who came to Freetown for testing before travelling out of the country, was also found to be positive. This has prompted the health authorities to turn their attention to Zimmi, a town close to the border with Liberia.
Pujehun district, which comprises a Mainland, Riverine communities and settlements along the Mano River border axis, poses a challenge for health workers in enforcing compliance with the Covid19 preventive measures, with many communities far flung and separated by rivers and treacherous road conditions.
The 3 new cases bring to 32 the total number of recorded cases of the virus as of Friday, 15 January, since the first two cases were recorded on the 18 May 2020.
There has been a recent increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in Sierra Leone making it a total of 2,959 with Western Area Urban recording the highest number with 1,567 as of January 15th this year.
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