Curfew in the DRC: reduce traffic to reduce the spread of Covid-19
Kinshasa, August 10, 2020. A student has his temperature taken at the entrance to the school.
(Illustrative image) Arsene Mpiana / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
President Félix Tshisekedi has decreed an unlimited national curfew to deal with the second wave of Covid-19.
A measure that will come into force on Friday, December 18.
About 15,000 cases including more than 360 deaths have been recorded across the country, but the authorities assure that the signals are red.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa
,
Pascal Mulegwa
Now, 22 of Congo's 26 provinces are affected by Covid-19.
But the capital Kinshasa alone accounts for three quarters of the cases, followed by the provinces of North Kivu, Kongo Central and Haut-Katanga, regions with strong economic activity.
By establishing the curfew
, President Félix Tshisekedi wants to neutralize the vector of the virus.
“
The virus does not circulate on its own.
The real vehicles are mostly infected people, usually asymptomatic.
These are measures to reduce the movement of people,
”said Jean-Marie Kayembe, the head of medical care within the response committee.
In some hospitals that welcome Covid patients, the nursing staff is overwhelmed, adds Jean-Marie Kayembe: “
It must be recognized that there is again an increase in work, today we are witnessing an increasingly important demand hospitalizations.
Some hospitals are overwhelmed, but now is not the time to panic.
"
Concerned civil society
The latest figures showing more than 300 cases in one day have worried the authorities, although these official figures do not represent the real situation on the ground.
"
We do not have a large detection capacity and especially since the disease in 85% of the population of infected people, positive, is asymptomatic,
" explains Jean-Marie Kayembe.
But civil society is worried, because this curfew is unlimited and applies to provinces that have very few cases, such as Maniema, which has 12.
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