In an information and guidance note addressed in particular to the provincial coordinators of Border Hygiene and to the Secretary General of Public Health and Hygiene, the Director of the National Border Hygiene Program informed of the resurgence of Covid-19 cases. Some African and Western countries have already reported positive cases of this pandemic. A crisis meeting must be convened by the Congolese authorities for arrangements.
In his note, the director of the PNHF reports on the overall situation of the increase in flu cases, and two alarm bells sounded by Cameroon (through the press release from the Cameroonian Minister of Public Health on the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases in certain Western and even African countries), and Senegal (with nearly 60% of positive cases among passengers coming from Saudi Arabia).
“The DRC, which welcomes travelers from many Western, Asian and African countries, must take the above-mentioned alert seriously, and while waiting for additional guidance from the crisis meeting, our border services are called upon to strengthen the package of activities of the surveillance sub-pillar at PoE (on departure and arrival),” instructed the director of the PNHF.
To do this, the PNHF requests in particular epidemiological surveillance through screening: visual observation, temperature taking, filling out the health form and searching for exposure factors, temporary isolation, secondary screening, pre-listing of contacts, referencing for sampling and care, prevention and control of infection and Communication on risk and community engagement (CREC) in the PoE and their 400 m perimeter.
For all people coming from Saudi Arabia, the director of the PNHF recommends observing self-isolation for 5 days for those who do not have symptoms and for 7 days for those who have them.
In the DRC, Covid-19 was officially declared on March 10, 2020. The pandemic has caused 1,376 deaths out of 91,738 cases of contamination.
Theresa Ntumba
