In the country, the degree of positivity is high. That is, out of the total number of tests performed, it turns out that a large number are positive for Covid-19. The situation is not yet critical in hospitals, but the epidemic is there and it is affecting more and more Ivorians.
Out of five deaths recorded in December, the country has counted 17 in January, 35 in February and 30 died since early March. A total of 222 people have officially died of Covid-19 in Ivory Coast since the onset of the disease.
This increase in deaths is the result of an outbreak of pollution: 5,500 new cases in the last two weeks out of more than 42,000 analyzed tests, ie. an average positivity rate of 12% with peaks sometimes exceeding 19%. Several combined causes explain this situation, comments Edith Kouassi, technical adviser at the Ministry of Health and Hygiene.
We “gave up a little”
“Everyone gave up a little, all circles. And we pay for it. In mid-December it was the December holidays; then there were other events like Valentine’s Day that were political events. And if people in these gatherings do not take precautions, the virus circulates. And we also have a micro-suspicion of the English variant, which is more among young people. You see that there are more and more cases of pollution in schools. We are not yet saturated, we do not want that, and that is why we insist that the barrier measures be respected. These measures are effective, ”confirms Edith Kouassi.
For his part vaccination is underway. The campaign is currently targeting health workers, defense and security forces, but also people over 50 and chronically ill people. In three weeks, only 25,000 people received their first dose of AstraZeneca. A rather slow pace that slowed down at the end of last week following the temporary suspension of vaccinations with this serum in Europe.
