The Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action on Wednesday reported 15 more confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 314 in the west African country.
The country also reported 190 recoveries, including seven patients testing negative on Wednesday after treatment.
At a daily COVID-19 briefing, Marie Khemesse Ngom Ndiaye, director general of public health and president of the National Committee for the Management of Epidemics, said of the 15 new confirmed cases, 14 are close contacts of earlier confirmed patients and one a community transmission case.
Out of the 314 confirmed cases in the country, 85 are imported ones and 26 are community transmission cases.
Senegal has so far reported two deaths from COVID-19.
Facing an increasing number of community transmission cases, President Macky Sall recently said he wouldn’t rule out the possibilty of “general confinement” to make the population comply with the preventive mesures announced by the government.
To ease the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and air transport industies, the government will allocate some 77 billion France CFA (about 129 million U.S. dollars) to help them cope with the loss.
The package is part of 100 billion CFA francs dedicated “specifically to supporting the sectors of the economy hit hardest by the crisis, particularly transport, hotels and agriculture,” the Ministry of Air Transport and Tourism said in a statement.
Last Saturday, President Sall launched a food delivery operation in the regions at the Dakar Autonomous Port to help households affected by COVID-19.
Under the food aid program, which has a budget of 69 billion Francs CFA (about 114 million dollars), 146,000 tonnes of food will be purchased for distribution to targeted households across the country.
On April 4, President Sall extended the current state of emergency and dusk-to-dawn curfew for 30 more days, till May 4.
Senegal has suspended all international passenger flights since March 20. Enditem
