Fighting COVID-19 in Africa needs total solidarity – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says fighting COVID-19 in Africa needs total solidarity.

The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo said this on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO on Monday.

“That’s why the polio programme is lending its tools of personal computer, workforce and surveillance network right-pointing magnifying glass to help African countries respond.’’

According the agency, the polio workers have been fighting COVID-19 by educating communities on prevention, coordinating outbreak response, investigating cases, training health workers and tracing contacts.

It said with the effort of the workers, the virus would be defeated in Africa, saying: “”together we will beat COVID-19.’’

In a related development, WHO said it was working with relevant agencies to contain the spread of Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

WHO had on April 10 confirmed a fresh case of Ebola virus in the city of Beni in DRC, after 52 days of not recording a case in the country.

Subsequently, it rose to six confirmed cases in Northeastern DRC as at April 20 despite ongoing insecurity in the area.

“Surveillance teams from WHO and Ministry of Health, DRC travel through Butanuka, Northeastern DRC, tracing the contacts of an Ebola case in the area.

“Tracing and vaccinating contacts quickly are critical to stop the spread of Ebola,’’ it said.