BARCLAYVILLE, Grand Kru – The Grand Kru County Health Team has announced that a lab technician at the Dr. Dormu Nimely Maternity Hospital has tested positive for the Coronavirus, necessitating the closure of the facility and another clinic.

The new case means that Grand Kru now has three COVID-19 cases confirmed in the county.

Dr. Sianna Jackson Mentoe, Grand Kru’s county health officer, told a news team on July 13 at her Barclayville officer that the health worker who worked at the Sasstown health facility had come in contact with other lab technicians who were part of a week-long capacity building workshop in Harper, Maryland. At least 10 other lab technicians in Harper who attended the training have since contracted the virus.

At least 30 high-risk persons, including other health workers, are being monitored. Some of them have had their samples sent to Monrovia for testing.

Mentoe said the positive case is in an isolation ward and undergoing intensive medical care for recovery.

Grand Kru had been declared COVID-19 free on June 11 after the county discharged all 22 persons who were under precautionary observation. However, earlier in the week, the county recorded one new confirmed case from someone who had contact with a 71-year-old patient that had traveled from Grand Kru to Maryland before dying.

On Wednesday, July 15, Mentoe announced that the maternity hospital and Nayan Clinic in Garraway Administrative District would both be closed to the public. They would only accept emergency cases for the time being.

The county health officer said the move was necessary because the lab technician had interacted with almost all health workers at the maternity hospital; additionally, Nayan Clinic health workers had also interacted with the 71-year-old deceased woman.

Liberia now has 1,024 confirmed cases, with 51 deaths and 439 recoveries.

Featured photo by Dominic Chavez/World Bank