Gov’t confirms reduction in COVID-19 cases
The Public Health Emergency Centre has revealed that the cases of COVID-19 in the country have reduced significantly, with only six positive cases being confirmed in Juba in the last twenty-four hours.
The cumulative COVID-19 intervention statistics as of February 17, 2022, is that the total number of tests performed to date is 333,000 tests, the number of new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours is six, the number of cases recovered is 113,248 and the cumulative number of deaths stands at 137.
Speaking to The City Review yesterday, Dr Bior Kuer Bior, a member of the High-Level Task Force on COVID-19, said the new six positive cases were registered among those who were intended to travel.
He did, however, say that the figure is low because they did not conduct mass testing, and that the cases had significantly decreased among travellers.
Dr Bior echoed the earlier statement made by Dr Victoria Majur, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health, that only 2% of the total population of 13 million people had received the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The uptake of the vaccine is low because people do not know the benefits of the vaccine, which is coupled with a lot of misinformation going on. It is important that we demystify the rumours, educate and inform the public that the vaccines are safe,” he said.
Dr Bior urged those who have received the vaccine to continue observing the COVID-19 control measures as they can still get the virus.
Though the impact will be less severe as compared to someone who has not been vaccinated.
He added that even though one is vaccinated, they still have to be screened upon arrival at their destination to determine whether they are carriers of the virus or not.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Friday that six African countries have been granted technology to develop mRNA vaccines to address the continent’s scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines.
Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia have been chosen as the first recipients of technology from the World Health Organisation’s global mRNA vaccine hub. The idea is to ensure that the African continent can produce its own vaccines to combat COVID and other diseases.
Vaccine makers have faced criticism from public health officials and some government leaders for not sharing their formulas and patent protections to get more people vaccinated against the virus, which has killed more than 5 million people.
