By Nelson Manneh
The Gambia has over the weekend registered one new COVID-19 related death, bringing the total deaths to one hundred and eleven.
The new deceased case, aged 88, was a male of Finnish nationality who had his sample collected posthumously after being brought in dead at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital.
One the same day, The Gambia recorded five new positive cases of the deadly virus, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases ever confirmed in the country to three thousand five hundred and sixty-nine.
The newly confirmed cases represented 4.1% positivity test rate. The median age of the new cases is 38 years.
This is the 155th national situation report since the confirmation of the first case of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in The Gambia, on March 16th, 2020.
The Gambia currently has six people under quarantine, one thousand two hundred and ninety-seven active cases and one hundred and eleven COVID-19 related deaths.
Modou Njai, Director of Health Promotion and Education at the Ministry of Health, said one hundred and twenty-three new laboratory test results have been received from the National Public Health Lab.
He said there are one hundred new COVID-19 recoveries.
“Over 300 healthcare workers at quarantine facilities benefitted from IPC training funded by IOM and WHO through the peace building fund,” he said.
Director Njai said six new people were taken into quarantine while seventy-nine discharges were made over the last 24 hours.
The bulk of the active cases are asymptomatic and are self-isolating at home pending the manifestation of symptoms.