MONROVIA – The Liberia Cement Corporation (CEMENCO) has joined the fight against the spread of the COVID-19 in Liberia by making a donation of sanitary materials to an international non-governmental organization (NGO) and residents of District 13 in Montserrado County.
The donated materials, according to CEMENCO, would be distributed to other parts of Monrovia. The items include 20 large buckets of chlorine and 45 cartoons of hand sanitizers. These items are expected to be distributed to medical centers in Monrovia and its environs in the coming weeks.
The NGO has already received 16 large buckets of chlorine and 45 cartoons of hand sanitize from the Liberia Cement Corporation (CEMENCO) as supplies needed to fight the spread of COVID-19 across the country.
The distribution of the medical supplies donated is centralized by said NGO linked with the Ministry of Health and Center for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) office in Liberia.
Mr. William Phillippe Gaignard, the Managing Director of the Liberia Cement Corporation made the donation on behalf of the parent company Heidelberg Cement Group headed by Mr. Hakan Gurdal, the CEO of Africa, Eastern, Mediterranean Basin.
Also, District #13 received 4 large buckets of Chlorine and five cartoons of handwashing sanitizers while the Government of Liberia received 16 large buckets of chlorine and 45 cartoons of hand sanitizers.
Receiving the items on behalf of his district, Representative Edward Flomo of district 13, Montserrado County thanked the company for honoring its social corporate responsibility and called on all Liberians and residents to join the fight against the spread of COVID-19 by adhering to the measures laid down by health authorities.
“We cannot assume this continent of 1.3 billion people will blissfully escape the crisis. The World cannot afford the unthinkable consequences of a COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” the CEMENCE boss said.
Although there are still fewer coronavirus infections in Africa than other parts of the world for which Liberia is no exception, WHO figures show that the continent now has more than 1,300 cases of COVID-19 in 43 countries and 40 deaths across the continent.
More worrying is that 12 African countries have recorded local transmissions. The WHO said, the government must prevent local transmission from evolving into a worst-case scenario of widespread sustained community transmission.
Such a scenario will present a major challenge to counties with weak health systems, as they do not have sufficient resources to cope with a large influx of patients needed isolation and intensive care.