Friday May 8, 2020
Somalia’s confirmed cases of Covid-19 were on Thursday night hurtling towards 1,000 after 55 more people contracted the virus disease.
In her usual press briefing, Somalia’s Minister of Health Dr Fawzia Abukar Nur, said the country now had a total of 928 cases.
“This high number of cases is the result of laboratory analysis,” said Minister Nur.
She added, “41 of the cases were recorded in Mogadishu, 13 in Puntland and 1 in Hirshabelle.”
Puntland and Hirshablle are two of the five semi-autonomous authorities that are members of the federal government of Somalia.The ministry also stated that on Thursday, 5 people had died while 19 others fully recovered from the infection.
Officially, records show each of the federal regions was battling Covid-19. Somalia had 26 cases only 17 days ago. That the cases were rising this fast indicated testing was helping unearth patients. But it could also mean the extent of the spread is deeper than earlier thought.
In fact, the real scenario is assumed to be worse as most people disregard health guidelines and advice given by the government and the medical officials.
The Nation has documented very little social distancing and use of face masks. Handwashing is hampered by general shortage of clean water.
Despite the government urging people to stay at home and even pray at home, hordes flock to the mosques, praying closely lined up together.
In most mosques, Taraweeh – late evening prayers during the Holy month of Ramadhan, are regularly performed, despite the ritual being very much against social distancing. During this time too, they have been seen breaking fasts in gatherings, a clearly forbidden practice this season.
Meanwhile, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo who joined the meeting of the national committee for the prevention of Corona virus on Thursday via video conference commended the federal government for delivering equipment and material needed to deal with Covid-19 to the member states in the country.
President Farmajo thanked the friendly countries that offered Somalia much needed help.
“I hereby thank the countries who dared to help our nation at this critical moment of universal health crises,” said the president.