The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya has today opened a solidarity fund to tackle the increasing threat of the coronavirus in the country. The Prime Minister Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute who made the announcement also revealed that, 1 billion FCFA is the starting amount in this fund.
The move comes at a time when Cameroon is having a geometric progression of Covid 19 infection. From five confirmed cases on March 6, 2020, the country hss entered the month of April with 203 confirmed cases of the corona virus with 6 deaths and 10 recoveries.
Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam and Limbe are the hotspots. Though Douala with roughly 30 cases has registered 4 deaths, two more than Yaoundé with over 90 cases. The Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachie in a recent outing on the Cameroon Radio Television CRTV expressed fears that, the cases in the economic capital could rise owing to the fact that, passengers who arrived the country from badly affected countries used corruption and other unorthodox, means to evade confinement.
The Prime Minister on March 17, 2020 announced 13 preventive measures to deal with the pandemic. Amongst them was restriction on movements, the closure of business places at 6pm, a ban on overloading by urban transporters as well as taxis and commercial bike riders and suspension of schools. But some people continue to violate these measures with impunity.
On the otherhand, others are following them and have adopted further preventive measures against Covid 19.
The Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji chaired an evaluation meeting on Sunday March 17, 2020 where he announced that, the measures laid down by government will be intensified by Regional Governors and other competent services.
The Ministry of Public Health has been receiving multi faceted support from public and private partners. Cameroon received 30 tons of aid from Chinese billionaire and philanthropist Jack Ma comprising 20,000 laboratory diagnostic test kits, 100,000 medical masks, and 1000 protective suits and face shields. Financial donations from Huawei, UBA have also boosted the Covid 19 response of government.
Paul Biya’s gesture will obviously gladden the hearts of Hotel managers whose establishments were picked by Government to serve as confinement centres for Covid 19 patients. At the moment, the state owes them 630 million FCFA.
