MONROVIA – FrontPageAfrica has gathered from several impeccable sources within the Ministry of Transport that Transport Minister Samuel Wlue returned from Europe last week and refused to be quarantined.
According to the source, upon his return from Italy last week, Mr. Wlue called a staff meeting but the majority of the staff refused to show up due to fear of Coronavirus.
The Communications Director at the Transport Ministry told FrontPageAfrica that it would take him up to Wednesday morning to confirm whether Minister Wlue traveled to Europe.
Italy currently has 27,980 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and 2,158 deaths and 2,749 recoveries.
According to the Ministry of Health, it is a strict regulation that all persons coming into Liberia from countries with over 200 cases would be mandatorily quarantined.
This has left many of his staff wondering why health authorities allowed him to slip through the system knowing he was returning from a highly infected country.
However, Dr. Mosoka Fallah of NPHIL told reporters on Monday that Rep. Seboe has agreed to test for the virus, now that there is a confirmed case.
There are also concerns that Montserrado County’s district representative Dixon Seboe, who recently returned from Spain, refused to be put under precautionary observation upon his return.
Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee has also come under the limelight as he was in Spain and Paris about two weeks ago.
The first reported case, Dr. Nathaniel Blama, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), now suspended, who had returned from a conference in Switzerland, was accused of refusing to adhere to precautionary measures at the Roberts International Airport.
Dr. Blama has, however, termed the allegation as political, noting he turned himself in for testing and complied with health workers. He also said it was agreed between him, Dr. Francis Kateh, Chief Medical Officer and Dr. Mosoka Fallah, the Executive Director of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) that he would drive himself to the treatment center while the ambulance drive behind him.
In a press conference on Monday, Dr. Fallah admitted to cracks within the surveillance system.
“No system is full proof; there were cracks – we had over 240 persons that we took [under quarantine] and it cost the government so much money to keep them in precautionary observation center and we were convinced that no matter how the system is, there will be the possibility of cracks,” Dr. Fallah said.
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