By: Kebba AF Touray
Danger may emerge as compliance with COVID-19 measures decrease. This disease is real and a killer as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as global pandemic. COVID-19 was first confirmed in the Gambia on 16th March 2020 and currently the country’s COVID-19 status stands at 1 death, 9 recoveries and 7 positive cases.
At the global level, the pandemic since its outbreak has killed a total of 244,122 with 3,446,291 confirmed cases as of 4th May 2020, making it the world’s night mare which at the moment, has no cure or vaccine.
Officials in the Gambia have clearly and strongly urged that there should be no room for complacency and advised the citizenry from all walks of life, to strictly adhere to the health guidelines provided by the Health Ministry and the WHO.
Despite coming up with a State of Public Emergency and Restrictions coupled with the numerous sensitization campaigns on the pandemic, Gambians from the onset of the outbreak complied with the guidelines.
However as of yesterday Thursday May 7th 2020, the restriction and state of emergency is turning out to be history in some of the places visited by this reporter, due to low level of compliance with the measures.
The compliance level with the health guidelines in some of the public domains such as markets and fish landing sites is currently reduced and this calls for concern as the county is making efforts to contain the further spread of COVID-19, to avert the adverse effects of the disease.
To ascertain the compliance with the guidelines set aside to contain the spread of the disease prompted this medium to visit some of the public domains and see the level of compliance with the precautionary measures prescribed.
At Latrikunda Sabiji Market, this reporter observed that physical distancing rules on public gathering and the use of masks have not been implemented; that people could be seen in numbers without masks and hand washing is also neglected by many at market entrances.
At the Bambo garage in Latrikunda Sabiji, it was realized that though the drivers are coping with the restriction on transportation, physical distancing and the use of face masks has not been strictly practiced.
At the Fajikunda Major Health center, a visitor told this reporter that at the start of the outbreak, a majority of people were not practicing the preventive measures but clarified that the compliance level has increased thanks to the sensitization activities; that this increment has been made possible due to the various sensitization activities conducted in the area.
Follow Foroyaa Newspaper as the paper endeavours to visit other public places to ascertain the level of compliance with COVID-19 measures in these places.
