The National Coordination for the Management of the Response against COVID-19 (CNGR) held, on Wednesday July 6, 2022, at the Lébéné hotel in Lomé, its weekly press briefing. During this meeting with the media, the CNGR took stock of the epidemiological situation and vaccination. She once again drew the public’s attention to the increase in recent weeks of new active cases of COVID-19. In view of this outbreak and especially the traditional Evala festivals which start tomorrow in the prefecture of Kozah and other cultural events which will follow, the Coordination has invited the population to respect the barrier measures and to be vaccinated. This, in order to contain the contamination and avoid all the related risks.
The National Coordination for the Management of the Response to COVID-19 (CNGR) has sounded the alarm on the trend towards an increase in Togo in recent days in cases of contamination with COVID-19. It was during a press conference she held on Wednesday in Lomé.
On occasion, the coordinator, doctor-Col. Mohaman Djibril, noted that Togo recorded 132 active cases this week, compared to last week when it had counted 110 cases. However, at the beginning of April, the care center for this condition was dealing with less than 10 cases. This means that the number of cases is increasing day by day. Four (4) patients of this pandemic are in hospital. One hundred and seventeen (117) cases have been recorded since Tuesday. The doctor-Col. Djibril pointed out that these cases, concentrated in the health districts of Greater Lomé, also extend to other health districts in the interior of the country such as Tchaoudjo, Kloto, Zio, Vo, Lacs and Ogou. He also pointed out that new variants of COVID-19 are circulating in communities. As soon as there are these cases in Europe, Africa also takes the hit, he recalled. Because the borders are reopened and the restrictive measures lightened. These cases are explained by the coincidence of school holidays, marked by the arrival of tourists in Africa and the stay of Africans residing in the West at home. At the Gnassingbé Eyadèma International Airport in Lomé, screenings are no longer systematic as before. Faced with this trend, there is a risk of recording high rates and, if this continues, of going back, suggested Professor Djibril. Added to this is the start, tomorrow, of traditional Evala festivals in Kozah and other cultural events that will follow across the country. These cultural events, which inevitably draw crowds, are opportunities for the spread of COVID-19, a common enemy to be defeated.
Beyond that, the coordinator stressed that vaccination is still taking place throughout the national territory. In total, about 40 thousand people have received their dose for a month. Nine (09) thousand received their first dose of vaccine, 248 thousand people their second dose, 9 thousand made their first booster and 101 thousand people received their third dose of vaccine.
Faced with all this situation, the doctor-Col. Djibril calls on the population to redouble their efforts in respecting barrier measures to the chain of contamination and for vaccination, in order to avoid a new wave of disease in Togo. Regarding the Evala struggles, he pointed out that local COVID-19 management committees, health facilities and other teams are already mobilized to enforce barrier gestures, control health passes, vaccinate people on site, between others. So, wrestlers, supervisors, spectators and other actors, everyone is called upon to play their part, by adopting responsible behavior, in order to make these celebrations of reunion and self-affirmation, moments of success.
Kpinzou EDJEOU