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Conakry, Guinea: Health officials have not waited for WHO to declare the Coronavirus as an “international public health emergency” to strengthen surveillance measures at its borders.
Guinea, the starting point in 2013 of the Ebola epidemic which claimed the lives of more than 11,000 West African citizens, hardly wants to be surprised! As recommended by the World Health Organization, she did not bleed in the dark to reactivate her surveillance measures at the points of entry.
The National Agency for Health Security (ANSS), born at the end of the Ebola epidemic, took the bull by the horns. At the Autonomous Port of Conakry, Boké and Boffa as well as at Conakry International Airport, surveillance measures are already in place.
In the afternoon of Friday, January 31, 2019, a reporter from Guinéetime noted the installation of control devices on arrival and departure of passengers.
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” The temperature control is made for all arriving passengers, without distinction Insists Dr Amadou Mouctar Sow, Director of Safety and Security of the Conakry Airport Management and Operating Company.
Two thermal imagers are installed already at the Arrival and Departure. Each arriving passenger receives a hand sanitizing gel and passes in front of the thermal imaging camera. If the camera detects a high body temperature, above the average, the passage should pass in front of a second health worker for a second control with the thermoflash.
” If the high temperature is confirmed, the passenger is taken to the isolation room for a third check to deepen, before calling Nongo’s CT-Epi “Continues Dr. Sow.
This epidemiological treatment center, located a few kilometers from the airport, has doctors specializing in viruses such as the coronavirus and are equipped with appropriate gowns. Two ambulances are requisitioned there, too, we are told.
” A suspected case has just an hour to an hour and a half in the isolation room. Everything is planned so that these medical specialists can arrive quickly at the airport. The road police are also informed of the measure “Specifies the Safety and Security manager of Conakry-Gbessia Airport.
Read also Coronavirus: “In Guinea, no case has been notified yet” (Minister of Health)
The isolation room is located near the passenger arrival control system. It has a door that leads directly to the ambulance, without the suspected case being seen by other passengers.
At Conakry Airport, as part of the strengthening of these control measures, the number of agents on the medical team has increased from 5 to 16!
” VSagents take turns. Seasoned staff have managed the Ebola epidemic and include doctors, nurses and ATS »Specifies Dr Mamadouba Camara, SOGEAC Medical Consultant.
Information session
During this control of the measures taken by Conakry Airport, Dr. Lamah Vokpo, Epidemiologist at the ANSS, made a video projection on the coronavirus for the medical team. But the airport police (commissioners and agents), national customs and other agents of the security company were interested in the meeting.
Dr. Lamah made the history of the coronavirus in China, its departure precisely in a seafood market in the city of Wuhan (Hubei), the countries affected, the WHO recommendations as well as the assessment as of 31 January 2020.
” If we have a case of coronavirus, we don’t want it for Guinea, that means that at the points of entry, like here at the airport, we haven’t done our job well “Said Dr. Salomon Compaoré of the IOM to the medical team present.
As of Monday, the ANSS informs, control sheets developed in collaboration with the WHO will be available at Conakry airport. Already, for the screening of its nationals, the Chinese Embassy in Conakry has already submitted forms to the airport authorities to be completed by all Chinese passengers.
Amadou Touré
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