The Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health and the Addis Ababa City Health Bureau have jointly launched a six-month action plan to stop the spread of COVID 19 virus.
The campaign under the motto, “wear a mask to be served” which will continue for the next six months having been launched on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.
The program was attended by Addis Ababa City Deputy Mayor, Coordinator of Public Service Institutions, Jantrar Abay, Minister of Health, Dr. Lia Tadesse, Director General of the Ethiopian Institute of Public Health, Dr. Eba Abate and other senior officials. Federal and Addis Ababa senior officials, religious leaders and other community representatives attended the launch of the national and Addis Ababa City Movement.
“Teachers and administrators in schools, in addition to making sure every student wears a mask, urged students to keep their hands clean and, if they have any symptoms, do their best to get professional help,” said Dr. Lia Tadesse. Institutions are serving only those who wear masks, and they are urging staff and consumers to join hands with the movement, urging them to keep their hands clean.
On the program as Dr. Lia expressed a 10 percent of samples from the total number are found to be positive, which indicates the high spread of the virus in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health, until Thursday January 14, 2020; 1,870,415 laboratory tests had been done in which 129,922 of them tested positive and of which 114,749 of them recovered safely. 2008 deaths have been recorded so far and 13,161 are active cases.