By Ragan M. Conteh
The Port Loko District Council has handed over consignments of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) materials worth millions of Leones to the newly established District Command Center, which is a central structure charged with the responsibility of coordinating all COVID-19 interventions across the district.
These donations, according to Council Chairman, Mr. IS Bangura, were done through the District Health Management Team (DHMT) in Port Loko.
The items donated include 505 veronica buckets, 378 (500mls) liquid soaps, 441 hand sanitizers, 50 bags of powdered soaps (Saba), 50 rolls of paper towels, 105 cleaning buckets, 105 mop sticks, and 25 waste bins.
Update on COVID-19 cases in the country has seen Port Loko District registering 4 cases mainly from government quarantine houses located in Lungi and Port Loko City.
All of the reported cases from Port Loko, according to the Council, were passengers who arrived at the Lungi International Airport from countries that have been heavily affected by the Coronavirus outbreak.
The need to scale-up community sensitization and Infection Prevention Control (IPC) in the district cannot be overemphasized, given the number of recorded COVID-19 cases in Port Loko District.
It is expected that these donations will contribute to the improvement of hygiene conditions and health care waste management particularly at the 105 health facilities, border crossing points, and riverine areas in the district.
It could be recalled that early April 2020, the Council provided 9,375 liters of fuel to the District Health Management Team (DHMT), Port Loko to enhance rapid and timely response, surveillance, contact tracing and monitoring the spread of Coronavirus in the district.
All of these interventions came at a time when the District Health Management Team (DHMT) and the then-District Operations Management Center (DEOC) were constrained with resources to adequately respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the district.
The handing over of the donated items was done by the Port Loko District Council Chairman and witnessed by the Chief Administrator, District Medical Officer (DMO), the Deputy Mayor, Port Loko City Council, the Chairman of the newly established District Command Center, the representative from the Directorate of Health Security and Emergencies-MOHS, the District Coordinator, Office of National Security, Civil Society Organization, the District Youth leader and the Media, amongst others.
Whilst the Council reaffirms its commitments towards the fight against the spread of the Coronavirus, the public is strongly encouraged to follow the preventive measures established by the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), which include regular hand washing, social distancing, the use of facial mask, cover nose and mouth when sneezing and report to the nearest health facilities whenever you feel high fever, difficulties in breathing, persistent coughing, running nose or flu, etc.