Door to door COVID 19 screening becomes effective: Ministry

Addis Ababa, May 12, 2020 (FBC) – Ministry of Health stated that the door to door screening activities being carried out to control spread of cornovarus have become effective in discovering new cases which are not linked with travel history abroad.

The screening works added an impetus to the country’s COVID 19 emergency response so that ministry of health has managed to easily identify suspected cases among the community, the state minister Dr. Dereje Dugumma said.

Dr. Dereje said COVID 19 screening and monitoring activities focused at industrial parks, prisons, health care institutions and other vulnerable segments of the society enabled the ministry to discover cases in health workers, drivers and traders who had no travel history.

The recently increasing cases motivated the health sector to exert more efforts against the spread of the virus in the country, Dr. Dereje noted.

“The coronavirus pandemic is at its worst case scenario,” said the state minister, adding “the county has built capacity in terms of both technical and logistic spheres.”

Activities are underway to increase the country’s testing capacity to 6,000 samples a day, according to the state minister.

There are currently 250 confirmed COVID 19 cases in Ethiopia.