COVID-19 pandemic seems far from over as Cameroon records new cases and as well as deaths, due to the intransigent pandemic. The Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachi in a tweet says Cameroon has registered 1607 cases of COVI9-19 in 7 days. The regions with most infections include the Littoral Region, Central Region and Northern Region.
This has brought the total number of deaths to four hundred and fifty-five. The Minister of public health warns that COVID-19 cases stand at 28,010 meanwhile the number of people who have recovered from the virus stands at 26,261 with 694 active cases. One hundred and seven people are being hospitalized with 8 on oxygen. Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health, further encouraged citizens to respect COVID-19 barrier measures. The pandemic has hit schools more in the month of January 2021 putting fear in the minds of parents especially those in Yaounde and Douala, two of the towns with most cases.
The resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Cameroon is particularly very worrying given that Cameroon is currently hosting the African Continental Championship. This tournament has attracted football lovers from all over Africa and the World at large. Players representing the Democratic Republic of Congo and their coach, Florent Ibengue were recently tested positive for COVID-19. Expert fear that if COVID-19 barrier measures are not respected to the latter, this competition could be a breading ground for the coronavirus pandemic.
Though there is a restriction in the number of fans that enter the field, these fans are still seen crowded in particular sections of the stands. This crowding no doubt, is the safest means of transmitting the virus. Worst still most of these fans gain access to the field without facemasks or deliberately remove them after gaining access to the field. Two of the towns with most infections, Douala and Yaounde are amongst the host cities of the competition.
As of January 21, the total number of COVID infection in Africa from 55 countries stands at 3,336,851and death stands at, 81,762 with recovery at 2,772, 575. The most affected countries include South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia. Globally, a total of 96.2 million cases been recorded with 53.1 million recovered patients and 2.06 million deaths.
