By Nelson Manneh
Twenty-five people, ten Senegalese and 15 Gambians have been taken in to quarantine after they entered the country from Senegal.
The Gambia currently has seven active cases, 9 people recovered from the virus and one death.
The country registered its first local transmission of COVID 19 in Bakau and that prompted the Ministry of Health to conduct a mass testing exercise in Bakau.
The local transferred COVID 19 case in Bakau is a 27-year-old women who has no travel history to any affected country and she is currently isolated at the treatment facility
Dr. Mustapha Bittaye the Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health said the twenty-five (25) people who are taken into quarantine came to the country from Senegal.
“One person was discharged after testing negative for COVID 19 upon completion of the quarantine period,” he said.
The Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health said eleven (11) laboratory test results received are negative for COVID 19
Meanwhile, “A mass COVID 19 screening exercise was conducted in Bakau where over three hundred (300) samples were collected for testing,” he said.
Bittaye said, two teams have been deployed to Bakau and CRR to support and strengthen the response team’s activities in areas such as communication, contact tracing, rapid response and partner engagement.
“A multi-sectoral team was dispatched to meet the family of one of the confirmed cases in Serrekunda who vehemently resisted sample collection,” he said.
Dr. Bittaye said thirty-one (31) contacts of the recently confirmed cases have been traced, one is high-risk and the other thirty are low-risk.
He said one hundred and fifty-one (151) low-risk contacts are being regularly followed-up to ascertain manifestation of symptoms of COVID 19.
“The country currently has ninety-six (96) persons under quarantine, seven (7) active cases and two probable cases,’ he noted.
Globally, Bittaye said since 31st December 2019 and as of 3rd May 2020, a total of three million, five hundred and sixty-two thousand, four hundred and twenty-six (3, 562, 426) cases of COVID 19 have been reported.
“Of these, two hundred and forty-eight thousand, one hundred and one (248, 101) deaths were registered and one million, one hundred and fifty-three thousand, and seventy-one (1, 153, 071) recovered from the disease,” he said.
He said Senegal recorded one thousand one hundred and eighty-two (1,182) confirmed cases, three hundred and seventy-two (372) recoveries and nine (9) deaths.
“A total of five hundred and sixty-six (566) tests were conducted and seventeen (17) are positive, three hundred and sixteen (316) people completed quarantine, seven hundred and twenty (720) contacts were traced and three hundred and ten (310) people completed follow-ups,” he said.
