The United Nations in The Gambia has yesterday released a statement, calling for prudence and more serious Covid 19 preventive measures in the wake of discoveries of new strands of the virus in the country.

“The UN recognizes the urgent actions taken by the Ministry of Health to trace and isolate people exposed to the new variant and limit its potential spread.  The Government of The Gambia has also shown strong leadership in the deployment of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign which has so far vaccinated about 30,000 people,” the statement noted.

However, the United Nations system in The Gambia said it is closely monitoring COVID-19 developments in the country, especially the recent detection of the COVID-19 Delta variant, which was first confirmed in India.

This confirmation of the new COVID-19 variant in the country “is a strong reminder that the pandemic is far from over” and that it is too soon to let our guard down.

“Despite improvements in some parts of the world, new variants are being discovered forcing many countries to return to lockdowns due to a surge in cases,” the statement, released through the UNICEF stated.

Hence preventive measures such as mandatory use of face masks in public, social distancing, avoiding large crowds, and hand hygiene needs to be strengthened.

It also calls for a “step up” testing and contact tracing, especially of asymptomatic individuals, across the country, assuring it will continue to work closely with the Government and partners to provide strong support to national COVID-19 prevention, response and recovery efforts.