Kwebana, a small community in Region One (Barima-Waini), has a total of 53 active Covid-19 cases, and along with community leaders, the Ministry of Health has taken a number of measures to bring the situation under control.
This is according to Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, who, during a daily Covid-19 update, said that the rapid increase in cases for such a small community is quite worrying. “Region One, overall we have a total of 84 active cases, but in Kwebana itself we now have 53 active cases, so you can see that’s an unusually high number of Covid cases for one single area.”
According to Dr Anthony, the 53 persons have since been isolated. He said the Ministry is currently monitoring each case and will take the necessary action to provide the level of care required if the health of persons deteriorates.
After becoming a hotspot for Covid-19, community leaders and the health authorities agreed to implement a full lockdown for fourteen days in the community.
Dr Anthony noted that the full lockdown means that for the next fourteen days there will be restricted movement of persons.
A team of medical professionals have been dispatched to the area. In addition to providing healthcare services, they are also conducting sensitisation campaigns etc.
“We are hoping to see a decline in the cases, so in another two to three weeks we will see that go down drastically,” Dr Anthony expressed.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister disclosed that the National Public Health Reference Laboratory now has the capacity to process around 450 to 600 tests per day.
“That’s the kind of capacity that we have currently and if we increase testing from the various sites we will be able to process that quite easily”.
