Ivorian football star Didier Drogba has offered to make the hospital of his foundation available to the state to make it a coronavirus screening center.
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A "gift considered as an act of patriotism"
The former international presented the Laurent Pokou hospital on Sunday (named after the former international who died in 2016) to the prefect of Abidjan Vincent Toh Bi Irie. "We thank Drogba for this donation, which is considered an act of patriotism," said Vincent Toh Bi Irie. The hospital located in Attecoubé, a working-class district of Abidjan, was not yet functional and could be converted during the crisis. "It is up to the State to (...) make it functional" underlined Mariam Breka, director of the Drogba foundation.
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Côte d'Ivoire has registered 4 coronavirus deaths so far
The Ivorian state, which has not specified how it will proceed, announced Thursday that it would set up "a screening strategy, with the installation in Abidjan of 13 local sampling centers, out of a total of 45 to be deployed "in the country. Since the start of the crisis, 533 cases have been recorded for 4 deaths.