Coronavirus: Sierra Leone president quarantined

The President of Sierra Leone, Julius Bio, has gone into a 14-day quarantine after one of his guards tested positive for coronavirus.

The president on Monday night said both him and his family were in good health and have not shown any symptoms of the virus.

His Tweet read, “The EOC is testing all contacts of one of my security staff who had been in a 14-day quarantine and has tested positive for #COVID-19 my government will continue to be transparent and urges citizens to protect themselves by following all hygiene and other protocols.”

Sierra Leone, as of Tuesday evening, has recorded 50 COVID-19 cases, six recoveries and no deaths.

Meanwhile, South Africa which is in its 4th week of a 35-day lockdown has recorded a low number of new cases as an official at the presidency revealed that the number of daily infections has dropped from 42 to 4 per cent.

The Deputy Minister, Thembi Siweya, said “before the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) passed the current regulations, the number of new infections daily were about 42%.”

Siweya highlighted that if precautionary measures such as the lockdown were not put in place, daily infections would have been higher than what is currently being recorded.

South Africa currently has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Africa, recording 3,465 confirmed cases, 58 deaths, and 1,055 recoveries.

The deputy minister went on to clarify that the lockdown was not “the only solution the government” had implemented.

Concerning the economic, political, and social effects of the lockdown, she stated that government is aware and had chosen the “notion of solidarity economy approach oriented towards the implementation of welfare services by the state, the private sector and the people.”

She said “this means the responsibility of the government to offer basic necessities to the people, especially the poor, is shared by all independent components of the state, the private sector and ordinary citizens.”

As of Tuesday evening, African countries had recorded 21,741 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 1,082 deaths, and 5,470 recoveries.