Voluntary Covid-19 screening tests and the wearing of masks have been imposed on Senegalese pilgrims returning from Mecca, health authorities indicated on Sunday June 13.
Connection in Abidjan, Bati Abouè
Alerted by the deaths occurring in Mecca, the Senegalese authorities assured, Sunday June 23, that they had imposed voluntary screening tests for Covid-19 as well as the wearing of masks on all pilgrims returning from Mecca. The Senegalese authorities claim to suspect a respiratory syndrome disease such as Covid-19 in some of the deceased people, explained the Minister of Health, Ibrahima Sy, who visited Diamniadio international airport that same day.
“At first, we thought it was linked to heat waves because the temperature was excessively high, but we realized that there is a respiratory syndrome with the cases of death,” he said. he declared, according to a recording broadcast by the Senegalese media. We said to ourselves that, probably, there is a respiratory epidemic, and it was our duty to be able to monitor the pilgrims on their return by setting up a screening system for everything related especially to Covid -19. »
Positive Covid-19 tests
The Ministry of Health, for its part, specified, in a press release published on Monday, that it has “strengthened the health surveillance system at the country’s air borders”, and has also deployed a team responsible for offering tests. voluntary screening with the aim of identifying pilgrims presenting flu-like illnesses at the airport.
Of the 124 rapid diagnostic tests carried out upon the arrival of pilgrims, 78 were declared positive for the Covid-19 virus, including 36 confirmed by PCR tests, supported the ministry which however explains that “there is no to be alarmed” but rather “to practice prevention”.
A total of 1,301 people died during the hajj, according to a Saudi Arabian press release. The official SPA press agency specifies, however, that these deaths are due to the heat wave. According to the report, many faithful undertook the great annual Muslim pilgrimage without authorization. Furthermore, they would have traveled long distances in scorching heat and without appropriate support. Of the 1,301 deaths, 5 are Senegalese, reported the daily L’Observateur.
