COVID-19 Spike Warrants Partial Lockdown
January 21, 2021
By: Mohamed Kargbo
Brig (Rtd.) Kellie Hassan Conteh,
Interim National Coordinator of NaCOVERC has announced a partial lockdown in
the Western Area effective Monday 25th January 2021to run for two weeks.
This disclosure was made at the conference room of the Ministry of
Information and Communications, Youyi Building in Freetown.
“Since December 2020, we have seen an exponential rise in confirmed
COVID-19 cases, largely attributable to the festive season,” says Brig Rtd
Kellie Hassan Conteh.
He explained that between December 1, 2020, and January 18, 2021, positive
cases from routine tests and outbound passengers alone, accounts for over 80%
of confirmed positive cases.
He adds: “we have more cases in communities now. We must, with renewed vigor
and extra vigilance, pool our efforts, to address this second wave….”
Outlining the nine (9) measures of the second wave of COVID-19, Brig
(Rtd.) Kellie Conteh said that, the measures will include: restricted movement
in and out of the Western Area, during this Period, community testing will be
conducted, night time Curfew will be introduced nationwide from 10 pm to 5 am,
an electronic pass system (E-Pass) will be used to regulate all essential
movements, all essential movement of persons from the Western Area will require
proof of a negative COVID-19 test valid for 72 hours, restaurants and bars
shall not operate during weekends, and clubs remain banned, places of worship
shall hold services for not more than one and half hours (90 minutes).
It has been revealed that there shall be thorough infection prevention and
control (IPC) cleaning at intervals, the mandatory wearing of face masks in
public premises and public transportation to be fully enforced and defaulters penalized,
all public meetings including activities of Ministries, Departments, and
Agencies, shall be prefaced with COVID-19 prevention messages and compliance
and all non-state actors are required to do likewise.
Brig. (Rtd.) Kellie Conteh disclosed that wearing a facemask has been proven
as an effective way to stop the spread of the virus and encouraged all a sundry
to imbibe the culture of wearing facemasks, especially in public places.
“This is a simple task for all citizens to adhere to,” he urges. The Interim
Coordination pointed out that NaCOVERC is working tirelessly to also strengthen
test regimes at the land border point of entry.
Miatta French, the Western Area Coordinator of NaCOVERC also encouraged all
to ensure that “we put the numbers down.”
Solomon Jamiru, the spokesperson also made the disclosure that NaCOVERC has
generated le22.3 billion funds on inbound and outbound passengers and about 1
billion Leones for fines.
Jamiru says, NaCOVERC takes action based on epidemiological data of the
disease and what science is advising us.
As of yesterday, Sierra Leone’s cumulative confirmed positive cases have
been pegged at 3,051
