Ethiopia’s response to WHO’s announcement of COVID-19

By Tesfaye Bulto MD, MPH Former President of EPHA Ethiopia’s response to WHO’s announcement of COVID-19 pandemic could be considered reasonably fast and politically supported. Early on, the control strategy adopted has been focused on detecting imported cases mainly at the Airports and isolation of cases, contact tracing and instituting quarantine measures. Nation-wide state of emergency is declared and preventive measures are communicated to the public mainly through media, focused on social distancing, use of face mask and hygiene. The intention has been to prevent community transmission. But now we are witnessing an uncontrolled situation as infected persons could come into the country through a number of border towns. It has taken some time to establish testing laboratories within the country in the beginning. Presently the number of people tested daily has gradually increased and the daily case report shows an escalating trend particularly in Addis Ababa. Hereafter it is particularly worrisome that the spread of this highly infectious virus to rural population, with limited health service capacity and accesses, is inevitable

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