The death of a Bangladeshi national of the feared corona virus pandemic in The Gambia has put more pressure on government and health officials in the country.
It makes the work of the government and health workers that more difficult to try to find everyone that came into contact with him (the deceased) while he was in the country presumably carrying the virus around.
Besides, it has been revealed that this man went to many countries prior to his arrival in the Gambia. It is also said that he visited many places in the Gambia; some mosques and at other times, religious schools or gatherings. There is a possibility that he has spread the virus wide.
It is now the unenviable duty of the government, through public health officials, to locate every man, woman and child this man had come into contact with while he was alive and going about his business.
This task is even made more difficult by the fact that there are those in the society who do not seem to believe that the corona virus is indeed true and that it is causing havoc in the nation. Most of these people will only go into quarantine if they are forced to.
The main problem here is that the country’s healthcare system is nowhere near ready to contain a widespread outbreak of any disease talk less of the deadly coronavirus. It is clear that there are not enough isolation centres to cater for a large number of people should it reach that level.
Thus, the only thing that the government and health officials can, and should, do is to intensify sensitization efforts to make sure that the general population is well-informed about this virus and what they should do to remain safe.
