By Nelson Manneh
The Gambia has on Tuesday 12th January 2021 registered nine new cases of the deadly coronavirus, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases confirmed in the country to three thousand eight hundred and eighty-five.
The median age of the new cases is 33. Three of the new cases had their samples mandatorily collected at the airport for travelling into the country without valid test results and one is epi-linked to a recent case.
The remaining 5 (57%) sought to be tested on account of being intending travellers who needed a test certificate.
This is the 244th national situation report since the confirmation of the first case of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in The Gambia, on the 16th March 2020.
The Gambia currently has eighty (80) active cases and no one is in hotel quarantine.
Modou Njai, the Director of Health Promotion and Education at the Ministry of Health, said two hundred and nineteen new laboratory test results were received from the Medical Research Council and the National Public Health Lab.
Of these, Njai said nine new samples tested positive, representing a 4.1% positivity test rate and seven new tests returned undetermined.
He said eight high-risk contacts of recently confirmed cases have been identified and their follow-up began in earnest.
Director Njai said one new COVID-19 patient got discharged. No one was newly taken into hotel quarantine.
