Stop wearing PPEs

Liberia’s Deputy Health Minister and head of Incident Management, Tolbert Nyenswah, has warned commercial motorcyclists wearing Personal Protective Equipment or PPEs to stop, saying the police have been instructed to arrest anyone caught wearing PPE in public.

He said the situation of PPEs being around is regrettable and the Ministry of Health is investigating how they got in the hands of the public. He dispelled rumor that the Government of Liberia is hiding Ebola related cases from the public, noting that Ebola test is being carried out almost every day and none of the test has ever proven positive; “Liberia is still Ebola freed”, he added.

Speaking on the morning radio magazine “Truth Breakfast Show” in Monrovia Thursday, Nyenswah noted that Liberians have all reasons to call for border closure because of the devastation the Ebola Virus Disease inflicted on them thru lost of loved ones, relatives and friends.

However, he said closure of borders is not in the best interest of the country, knowing that the borders of Liberia are porous.  He stressed that Ebola may come whether or not the borders are closed or even if all affected countries are freed from the deadly virus because the virus cannot be eliminated, but can be eradicated.

The deputy health minister said if the borders were closed, it would send bad signal to other countries that Liberia is unsafe. He however assured that the Health Ministry and security forces are instituting stringent measures at the various points of entry into Liberia to avoid any new outbreak, and maintains that government has the capacity to handle any outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.

Meanwhile, Nyenswah has urged the public to continue to call 4455 in case of any health related emergency. The World Health Organization officially declared Liberia Ebola-freed and formally certificated the country on May 9 at a ceremony in Monrovia. The virus killed over 4,000 Liberians, including Doctors, nurses, health workers and ordinary citizens, among them women and children. – By Rewina Juduh – Editing by Jonathan Browne