Four months after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on March 2 in Senegal, the country’s confirmed cases surpassed the 7,000 mark on Thursday.
Senegalese health authorities reported on Thursday 129 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of cases to 7,054 in the country.
During the daily briefing on the pandemic, the health ministry’s director of prevention Dr. Mamadou Ndiaye said that out of 1,160 tests carried out, 129 turned out to be positive, including 96 follow-up contact cases and 33 community transmission cases.
A total of 54 patients tested negative after receiving treatments, bringing the total number of people discharged from treatment centers and hospitals to 4,599 in Senegal.
The number of patients in intensive care units increased from 35 to 36, and the number of deaths due to COVID-19 also increased, with five new deaths. The death toll stood at 121.
Summarizing the four months of fighting against this pandemic, the director of the National Center for Emergency Operations (COUS) Dr. Abdoulaye Bousso said the pandemic is progressing in Senegal after analyzing all the indicators, with numbers of confirmed cases and deaths rising sharply in June.
Regarding the treatment of COVID-19 patients, the official said the convincing results of the use of the combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were confirmed.
Professor Moussa Seydi, head of the infectious diseases department at Fann hospital, said this combination will be continued in Senegal.
“Currently, the analysis of our data collected from 838 patients. The results that we have obtained on the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin have confirmed the efficiency of this combination,” he said.
According to him, the median hospital stay is 10 days among patients who were under hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, and 12 for those who weren’t.
“It is a well tolerated treatment, the side effects rate is between 2 and 3 percent. All the patients who took this treatment at an early stage of the disease did not have any complications and no one died,” Seydi said.
For his part, the director of emergency medical service of Senegal Mamadou Beye said some of the COVID-19 patients will be confined at home instead of in isolation centers.
He also announced that all passengers who wish to enter Senegal through air transports will have to present their COVID-19 test certificate before entering.
The resumption of international flights to Senegal is scheduled for July 15 under a protocol approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Action, the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Chinese Embassy in Senegal will hand over on Friday a third batch of medical supplies donated by the Chinese government to Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action.
