MONROVIA – The novel coronavirus has hit Gbarpolu County, one of the most impoverished counties in Liberia, with at least two confirmed cases so far.
Five new cases were reported on May 9 – three were from Montserrado County, the hardest hit county with 180 confirmed cases representing 88.2 percent of the confirmed cases in the country.
Gbarpolu is the first county in western Liberia to report cases of COVID-19.
Since March 16 -May 9, 2020, a total of 1,330 suspected and probable cases have been reported across 13 counties of that number, 204 have been confirmed as COVID-19 positive including 35 health workers.
The Minister of Health Dr. Wilhemina Jalah, boasts of only a single death in 14 Military treatment center and continues to encourage citizens showing signs of the virus to show up early for treatment. The health authorities report that at least 20 persons including two health workers have died of COVID-19 in Liberia.
According to the COVID-19 situation report, Liberia has begun the testing of community dead bodies of which 12 of the community deaths have tested positive for COVID-19.
According to health authorities, the risk of transmission remains very high largely due to high population movements in Montserrado as the county is home to approximately 1,500,000 (1/3) of the country total population while local transmission mainly from contacts of confirmed cases has accounted for about 98% of the cases.
Inadequate financial and logistical resources for response activities remains the major challenge to the COVID-19 fight in Liberia, according to health authorities.