Thursday in a press conference Marie Greta Roy Clément the Minister of Public Health denied rumors which suggests that Covid-19 is present in Haiti saying "so far, we have zero suspected cases, zero confirmed cases" recalling that only her Ministry is able to announce the existence of a case in the country after having carried out tests at the national laboratory.

In his intervention, Dr. Luis Filipe Codina, Representative in Haiti of the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO / WHO) asked the population not to panic, recalling that "All the countries of the region have only imported cases. There is no community circulation of Civid-19 in these countries at the moment. Here in Haiti, there are no imported cases yet. It’s very likely to happen. This is why the Ministry is preparing to prevent a community spread of the virus."

Minister Clément took the opportunity to clarify the incident on Wednesday at the border explaining "We were alerted last night to the arrival in Port-au-Prince of a bus from the Dominican Republic carrying 18 compatriots. One of the passengers who was not well died in Jimani. The Dominican authorities kept his body for an autopsy and kept the person who accompanied him. The other 16 passengers were able to cross the border. Since the deceased passenger suffered from fever and did not stop coughing, we saw fit to place the other passengers in quarantine in a site prepared for this purpose," deploring that residents have erected barricades of inflamed tires and thrown stones at the ambulances that transported passengers to the Monte Cristo hotel in Tabarre, one of the quarantine sites set up by the Ministry.

The Minister ensures that the 16 passengers placed in quarantine present for the moment ahve no symptoms of Covid-19 "We have simply taken protective measures. As soon as we receive the autopsy results, we will allow the others to go home."

In addition, on his official Facebook page, President Jovenel Moïse also wanted to be reassuring by affirming that no case of Covid-19 had been recorded in Haiti. In addition, he announced the imminent creation of a task force in preparation for the introduction of Covid-19 on the national territory "Army doctors, doctors of the national police, students graduates in medicine, retired doctors, epidemiologists, infectious disease specialists, pulmonologists, pharmacists, will be mobilized to deal with the coronavirus [...] The Ministry of Public Health will contact them and quickly there will be training sessions through the Task Force that the Prime Minister will form."

HL/ HaitiLibre