ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Public Health Institute announced that the country reported a record one day coronavirus surge with 35 new positive cases here yesterday.
The 35 people had been identified positive out of 1775 laboratory tests conducted within 24 hours. Accordingly, the total number confirmed cases have reached 352 while 116 recovered from the disease.
Among the confirmed cases identified were 17 male and 18 female Ethiopians aged between 15 and 80.
On sunday Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed urged citizens to avoid complacency and adhere to the guidelines that his government rolled out to keep social distancing and wearing face masks.
The slow rate of infection in Ethiopia has given rise to unfounded assumptions that the virus will not affect Ethiopia, he premier wrote on his official face book page.
Although it is low compared with other countries, the virus is spreading in the country time to time. This is making an increasing number of people pay less attention to the measures necessary to prevent the spread, particularly social distancing and regular washing of hands, he stated.
While the Government was quick to set in motion measures to control the spread of the virus and the initial reaction of the population was encouraging, the growing complacency observed more recently is extremely worrying and cause for concern, he noted.
It would be a grave mistake if we fail to learn from the errors made by others who are now paying dearly in terms of lives lost, the mayhem in their health care service sector and the severe damage to their economies.
An important lesson emerging from countries that are affected most is that they regret for did not acting fast and decisively in implementing the policy measures necessary to control the spread of the virus, the premier wrote.
In the absence of an appropriate vaccine, effective preventive measures include social distancing, regular washing of hands, wearing face masks and introducing a lockdown protocol whereby people have to stay at home for a specified period, as to the prime minister.
The Ethiopian Herald May 19/2020
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
