Stricter Covid-19 measures, more testing in Khartoum

The committee coordinating the coronavirus approach in Khartoum confirmed that further measures will be taken to limit the movement of people and put an end to overcrowding in shopping areas in order to stop the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

The committee will also reduce the time in which suspected cases can be tested. More rapid response vehicles will be provided and the Jabra Hospital laboratory will start testing for coronavirus as well.

Spokesman for El Gedaref state government Abdelwahab Ibrahim reported that 12 new cases of coronavirus have been registered. This brings the number of confirmed cases to 43, 37 in El Gedaref locality, three in El Faw locality, two in the Central El Gedaref locality, and one in West Gallabat locality.

There were 85 suspected cases yesterday, 18 of which are awaiting the results of a laboratory test. Four people have died of coronavirus, he said, three of them in El Gedaref locality and one in West Gallabat locality.

The Ministry of Health in El Gezira reported nine new cases of coronavirus yesterday. Doctor Ehab Abdallah reported at a press conference that the total number of Covid-19 infections in the state reached 64. They were 220 suspected cases, and 17 people have died.

The governor of Blue Nile state, Maj Gen Yasin Ibrahim, ordered the closure of all markets in Ed Damazin and Roseires for a period of 72 hours, starting today. The markets will be sterilised. Bakeries and pharmacies will be exempted from the measure.

The executive director of El Nahud locality in West Kordofan issued a decree that will impose fines on people violating the coronavirus pandemic measures. Owners of vehicles transporting passengers to and from El Nahud will be fined SDG 20,000 ($364*). The passengers will be fined SDG 2,000 each.

The locality will also impose a fine of SDG 10,000 for those who violate the local measure relating to the opening times of shops. Violating the measure that prohibits having group breakfasts will cost SDG 2,000.

New patients

The Sudanese Ministry of Health reported 134 new coronavirus patients yesterday, bringing the total of recorded Covid-19 cases on 1,661. In total, 80 people have died so far in Sudan.

Most of the new cases, 104, were registered in Khartoum, 21 in El Gezira, eight in El Gedaref, and one in Sennar. Six patients died.

Last month, Radio Dabanga published an op-ed by Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Africa Centre. He stated that “given the almost total lack of testing and near-absent health care system, that figure [of confirmed cases in Sudan] is most assuredly grossly underestimated”.

“Last week alone, more than three hundred Sudanese suspected by health officials as having the virus escaped from government-administered quarantine facilities, while one hundred Sudanese nationals returning from Egypt were reportedly able to evade health screenings at the border”, he added at the beginning of April.

He summarised that Sudan is “in perhaps one of the worst situations anywhere in the world to mobilise an effective national response because of grinding poverty, lack of household savings to offset lost income, lack of access to clean water, proper sanitation, and health supplies, and millions living in displaced persons camps across Darfur and the Two Areas where Covid-19 could rip through with devastating effect.”

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