SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Voice of America - Quarantine Challenges Leave Sudan Vulnerable Amid COVID Spread
Naba Mohiedeen reports on concerns from Sudanese health authorities that large numbers of people have either escaped from, or refused, quarantine.
Mohiedeen notes two incidents: 300 people leaving quarantine at the Universal Hospital in Khartoum in mid-March and four bus passengers fleeing an isolation centre near the border with Egypt.
150 Sudanese students who returned from quarantine in China staged a sit-in in refusal to be quarantined again. Although the Ministry of Health gave in to their demands, critics warn that if any of them are carrying the virus, they could put Sudan’s health system in a dire situation.
Abeer Dirar, who jointly organised a public awareness campaign in Khartoum said Sudan does not have the logistics to face coronavirus given “the cumulative destruction of the health system” during Omar al-Bashir’s rule. According to reports, Sudan only has 80 ICU units in both the public and private sector.