Guinea-Bissau: Coronavirus numbers stabilising, too early to ‘let guard down’ – government

The secretary of the high commission for Covid-19 in Guinea-Bissau, Plácido Cardoso, said on Monday that new cases of the disease in the country seem to be stabilising, but it is still too early to let the guard down.

“From the numbers that we have been sharing and have analyzed it seems to be stabilising because the variation of new cases is not discrepant from one week to another,” said the doctor, when asked about the evolution of the disease in the country.

In the last nine weeks, Guinea-Bissau registered a variation between 51 and 28 new cases per week.

“But this does not mean that we are at the end of the pandemic. These are situations that continue to deserve our attention and concern because we are also taking actions and reflecting on this evolution to better understand it,” Cardoso said

For Plácido Cardoso, it is necessary to continue to exhort people to comply with the rules, namely the mandatory use of masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing.

“It is still too early to think we should lower our guard,” he stressed.

The data released on Monday by the High Commission for Covid-19 show that 28 new cases have been registered in the country and that there is an accumulated total of 2,303.

The number of recovered cases has risen to 1,472 and there are 39 fatalities registered.

Asked by Lusa about the increase in testing, the doctor said it is one of the high commission’s priorities.

“Only by testing more and more can we have the idea and the epidemiological elements about the state of the population. We have tested less than 20,000 and our goal is to increase,” he said.

Cardoso also said that currently four regions, besides Bissau, are already conducting tests.

“But our goal is to create conditions for more testing posts not only in Bissau but also in the other health regions of the country,” he said.

Guinea-Bissau already carries out free tests for travellers, but will also begin to test on a massive scale pregnant women, people over 60 years of age and those with chronic diseases, he added.