MONROVIA, Montserrado – As Liberia begins a national state of emergency, the National Public Health Institute of Liberia has announced that there are 50 cumulative confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, with 4 total recoveries and 5 deaths.

Last Wednesday, President George Weah had declared the state of emergency along with additional measures to contain the spread of the virus, including a mandatory 14-day stay home order for residents of Montserrado, Margibi, Nimba, and Grand Kru – the counties that have reported cases so far. In Grand Kru, the patient traveled to Monrovia before dying, but the county is likely being included in the stay home order because of the potential contacts that need to be traced.

A situation report created by NPHIL late Friday night, when Liberia still had only 48 confirmed cases, provided insights into the demographics of the Coronavirus patients so far.

“One of the confirmed cases is imported and 47 were locally transmitted,” the report said. “The age range among confirmed cases is 8 to 74 years, with median age 42 years.”

It also added that 831 contacts, including 129 health workers, had been documented, with a total of 445 or 50 percent of the contacts had completed 14 days since exposure.

Over the course of the next two days, the country gained an additional two cases and one recovery.

The state of emergency enters its second day, and already, videos are being widely shared on social media showing citizens being maltreated by members of the security sector, including officers of the Liberia National Police and Liberia Immigration Service.

Featured photo by Jefferson Krua