Public Urged to Cooperate in Curtailing Increasing Spread of COVID-19 Pandemic

Addis Ababa December 10/2020 (ENA) Concerned with the increasing spread of COVID-19, Ministry of Health has called on the public and stakeholders to pay due attention to preventing the disease.

Health Minister Lia Tadesse told journalists today that the rate of infection of COVID-19 pandemic has been increasing of late.

Negligence in taking preventive measures against the virus has been observed among the public, she added.

The minister stated that proper face mask practices in different cities of the country have declined.

The practice of wearing mask has declined in Addis Ababa from 62.6 to 52.6 percent, in Gondar and Bahir Dar from 33.9 to 30.6 percent, respectively, in Semera from 13.9 to 1.5 percent from October, 2020 to last week of November, 2020, she stated.   

The number of severe COVID-19 cases has also increased nationwide, it was leaned.

According to her, the increase of severe conditions has led to scarcity of essential medical equipment like ventilator, particularly in Addis Ababa.

The minister finally called on the public and stakeholders to strengthen their collaboration in the effort to prevent the pandemic as it needs multisectoral approach to reduce its adverse impacts on the country.

Out of the 1.68 million samples analyzed since March 2020, 111,834 persons got infected and 1,769 persons have died.