Monday April 27, 2020
MOGADISHU (HOL) - COVID-19 cases in Somalia have crossed the 400 mark as the death toll shot up to 23 in about one and half month since the global pandemic was discovered in the country.
The Ministry of Health announced Sunday 46 people were confirmed positive for the disease bringing to 436 the national tally amid fears many people particularly in Mogadishu have already contracted the disease.Five more people died of the disease, the government said bringing to 23 the number of people who gave succumbed to the disease. There were no recoveries recorded.
A Somali doctor who worked with Banaadir Regional Administration Hodan Ali said Sunday in a tweet they had received many cases of people suffering from flu with symptoms that mirror COVID-19.
This affirms fears that the disease may have spread widely within the city but the numbers cannot be easily determined owing to low testing capacity.
The government ceased release of the number of daily tests making it difficulty to understand how much the disease may have spread.
Somalia now has the second highest COVID-19 cases in the region behind Djibouti which has since recorded 1,023 cases.
The death toll from the disease is however the highest in the region with 23 people so far succumbing to the disease.
In Djibouti, despite the high number of cases, only two people have died.