New COVID-19 cases should scare us into observing containment measures
Last Friday, the Minister of Health confirmed the rise of COVID-19 cases, which shot from two to three digits within just hours.
The rise was from 80 as of Thursday to 166 cases on Friday just within 24 hours. This sharp increase is so worrying. The country needs to start a serious awareness campaign because it seems the public members might have gone asleep and are now oblivious to the preventive measures.
According to the figures from the COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr John Romunu, the country’s cumulative caseload has risen to 13,309. Currently, the total active cases are 562 and the recovered cases are 12,614
The country’s death toll stands at 133 and there was no new death recorded as of Friday last week.
About 564 contacts are currently being followed up for testing and treatment. This clearly shows that the cases have climbed to two digits which is very serious and worrying because currently, the citizens are not adherence to the COVID-19 measures. There is no more restriction from the government to enforce the measures.
Most people have given up on following COVID-19 precautionary measures. There is no wearing of face mask, social distance and this would be even worse as people are preparing for a lot t of celebration during the Christmas festive.
As public places like markets churches continue to experience too much congestion, the public needs to observe COVID-19 preventive measures to avoid the spread of the virus. The new COVID-19 variant is causing havoc in Europe and the United States, the continents whose citizens have fully been vaccine.
So, how would it be for us in a country where the total number of the population vaccinated is less than one per cent?. Therefore, the government needs to revise the order and enforce it to ensure that all citizens adhere to the measures. Within the continent, there are more than 10 countries, among them some of South Sudan’s neighbours, that have reported omicron cases. This means the national COVID-19 task force needs to wake up and resume serious work.
As part of the global initiative, we must be equally worried about omicron by implementing preventive measures that have been in existence since the outbreak of the virus.
The government especially the COVID-19 national task force needs to reactivate its activities and if possible to conduct mass testing in the residential areas. This is because people have been living a carefree life as if South Sudan is not part of the world that is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that the COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been on the priority list, social distancing, wearing of facemask, and washing of hands have completely died off among the public.
The national COVID-19 task force needs to come up strong against and start creating more awareness among the population as well as implying orders.
