Cameroon’s Public Health Minister, Manaouda Malachie is under serious criticism for countering statistics of COVID-19 death cases recorded in the country. Cameroonians have taken to social media to share their frustrations: they question the Coronavirus infection figures often shared by Mr. Malachie on Twitter.
In a tweet on Thursday May 7, 2020, Public Health Boss said 86 persons have died from COVID-19 ever since the first case was reported in Cameroon. The figures contradict the 108 deaths he announced a day earlier- (May 6).
Following this back-pedaling, internet users took to the minister’s wall to express their disappointment: some of them, to whom News Upfront talked to, have also demanded that the Minister resigns.
“Dr Manaouda with all due respect, can you explain to us what happened? 108 people were declared dead on May 6 today you announced 86! Did 22 people resurrect?” remarked a user named Hermann.
“Sorry Mr Minister, I have seen 108 death recently, was it false? Is this number the accurate one?”, another questioned.
The Health boss also puts the total number of active cases in the country at 958 while 1,221 patients have recovered so far.
On April 30, Prime Minister, Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute ordered new measures to relax restriction against spread of the insidious virus, Covid-19. These new measures amongst others, the reopening of bars and restaurants above 6pm, return to initial number of passengers on public transportation, and suspension of certain taxes, all geared towards mitigating the economic downturn of the pandemic.
With the dead toll and new cases on the increase in Cameroon, Opinion Leaders have found fault with the releave of restrictions.
“Did you (Health Minister) just say ‘stay at home?’ How is that possible when bars are now open? That is contradiction, right? When you open bars you basically told people they could go out and drink, but cannot go to school,” another denizen responded to the minister’s post.
Labor day and National Day celebrations on May 1 and May 20 respectively were cancelled this year by Cameroon’s Presidency in respect of social distancing measure: sad enough,schools are scheduled to resume on June 1, 2020. Pundits have projected a sharp increase in the toll, should schools resume on the slated date and citizens return to normal life style.
Most recent statistics shared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), reads that Cameroon has registered 2,868 Covid-19
Source: WHO
cases with 108 deaths (62 in Centre, 38 in Littoral, 6 in the West, 1 in the North and 1 in the Southwest Regions).
By Macwalter Njapteh
