Coronavirus: Mali continues to prepare

Text by: Caroline Paré Follow | Ophélie Lahccen

Mali has ten Covid-19 deaths. In Bamako, people wear the mask more and more, and it should become widespread soon, according to Professor Daouda Minta, national referent. Interview.

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Daouda Minta is a full professor of clinical infectious diseases and biologists in Bamako. He is the Covid-19 referent for Mali.

Tuesday, April 14, he was a guest on the Priority Health program on RFI.

► Read also: Faced with the coronavirus, Mali has developed a “robust plan” inspired by France

RFI: Where is your country? How many Covid-19 patients have you identified?

Daouda Minta:  As of April 13, there were 123 cases in Mali, including 10 deaths. On March 25, Mali officially declared the Covid-19 epidemic, based on two imported cases. On the epidemiological level, the first cases were imported cases, through our compatriots. Next, we received a patient category consisting of a mosaic of indigenous cases and probably unidentified contact cases. Today, the question arises at community level. Given the insufficient follow-up of contacts, the insufficiency of self-containment and unexplained causes, we must think of a possibility of pocket, of cluster , which can give a new explosive tendency to the epidemic.

Are these cases concentrated in the capital, Bamako, or are there several identified outbreaks?

Mostly, these cases are located in Bamako, but today, there are cases described, reported, in the first region in Kayes. There are also a few cases in central Mali, in the Mopti region.

Countries opt for different strategies. What do you do when a person tests positive for Covid-19 and has mild clinical signs?

In the vast majority of cases, patients present with minor symptoms. For the moment, we have not started to sort by following in town minor cases and complicated cases in a hospital environment. All are followed up in the care centers.

What treatment is preferred today in Mali?

As in Senegal, we favor the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. This treatment is given systematically, not just in cases deemed severe.

What preventive measures have been taken in Mali?

There is an awareness campaign on barrier measures. This involves washing your hands regularly, sneezing into the elbow, tissues must be thrown away after use, avoid undercooked food (eggs, meat, etc.), do not get too close to pets and favor wearing a mask. . Soon, the latter will be generalized. In Bamako, today, the majority of people on the street wear surgical or artisan masks.

Resuscitation beds, number of respirators, geographic inequalities… Are the health authorities of Mali asking themselves the question of material needs today? There are about forty resuscitation beds for the whole country…

The authorities are asking this question. They make projections. New centers will soon be opened, equipped with resuscitation equipment for possibly complicated cases. These measures are already taken for sites already in operation.

We have clearly seen from Italy to Spain, France to the United States, how essential anticipation is faced with this pandemic. Is there, in your country, an inventory of the means, the caregivers to prepare?

There is an inventory. We prepare young doctors, active doctors, volunteer doctors. Faced with this situation, it is a question of national solidarity and the medical profession, as a whole, remains available and can be mobilized if necessary. We have to go to large-scale training so that everyone is available, in terms of human resources.

Do these caregivers really have the equipment to protect themselves?

We have not yet reached the peak of the epidemic. At the level of structures, both in the capital and in the interior of the country, the equipment is available. For the moment, we are not overwhelmed. More and more equipment is arriving: the State is buying it, we are also receiving donations… So yes, we have the equipment necessary to protect caregivers, for now.

Regarding the training of caregivers, in terms of recognition of symptoms but also protection for themselves and their families when they return home, did the message get through?

The message got out well because the caregivers are going home. Hygiene measures are well respected. The risk of contagion of medical personnel, it is the patients who will come with an atypical picture who, during the diagnosis, can contaminate the caregivers. We can admit a patient who came for other symptoms, which are not conventionally recognized as a common thread towards Covid-19. This can lead to an explosion in hospitalizations or in contamination of nursing staff. Its very important.

Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

• Listen to Info coronavirus , daily chronicle on the pandemic

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→ What is known about the mode of contagion of the coronavirus
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→ What results for the ongoing clinical trials?
→ How the Institut Pasteur hopes to find a vaccine
→ How to make a mask and use it well

• Doctors' answers to your questions about the Covid-19

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