Fighting Covid-19: Mayors on the front line
The coronavirus unfortunately continues to claim victims in Cameroon. For the day of Thursday, May 14, 2020 154 people tested positive, 1 registered death and 14 patients recovered. The country counts on May 14, 2020: 3,065 people infected, 148 deaths and 1,578 patients cured, according to figures communicated by the Ministry of Health (MINSANTE). Since the start of the pandemic, mayors and their deputies have practically abandoned most of their local development activities to throw themselves into the battle. Dressed in blouses, wearing boots, masks, we saw them roaming the markets, neighborhoods, villages and other most sensitive corners of their communities. With one goal: to educate people about the need to respect the barrier measures decreed by the Government and WHO. Populations that sometimes did not have the necessary resources to face the threat of the pandemic. Municipal magistrates had to distribute handwashing materials, face masks to people who could not get them, disinfect markets and other sensitive public spaces. The new directives of the Minister of Decentralization and Local Development (MINDDEVEL), Georges Elanga Obam, dated April 22, 2020 now place them at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19. MINDDEVEL has taken measures to allow their structures, the importance of which is no longer to be demonstrated, to continue to assume their missions for the benefit of the populations while respecting the barrier measures in force. They are also responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations in force on the hours of opening and closing of drinking places, in coordination with the administrative authorities and those responsible for law enforcement, to ensure compliance with the wearing a mask, in public places, ensuring that groups of people are limited, etc.
