Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs

As of 1st May 2020, there are 136 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in 7 out of 16 districts in Sierra Leone. Seven people have died, including one pregnant woman, and 21 people have recovered so far. The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) stands at 5.1%.

National surveillance has docked 106 alerts through its 117 national emergency hotline. Over 1,870 laboratory tests have been conducted. Out of the 162 designated hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, 57.4% are currently occupied.

The ban on mass gatherings, closure of learning institutions and travel restrictions remain in place. A second three-day lockdown has been declared by the President of Sierra Leone from 3rd – 5th May.

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UNICEF Highlights

• UNICEF has received funding from the World Bank to commence procurement of essential medical and personal protective equipment as well as Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) supplies on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL). This critical support to the GoSL will address a major gap in procurement supply services.

• UNICEF’s Biomedical Engineer consultant has completed repairs of the sole oxygen plant in country located at 34 Military Hospital - a designated COVID-19 treatment center; UNICEF continues to provide technical assistance and is in process of developing an oxygen delivery system plan from the plant to the wards.

• Water supply in Jui hospital, another designated treatment center for COVID-19 patients, is being upgraded through flushing and cleaning of two boreholes.

• In partnership with Health for All Coalition (HFAC), work is ongoing in influencing integration of COVID-19 response in community actions plans in 1,115 village development communities.

• UNICEF-supported national radio programming continues to provide daily lessons for children from pre-primary to senior secondary levels, including life skills programming; Distance and digital teacher training programmes are also currently being developed in partnership with the Teaching Service Commission (TSC).

• Training for targeting and enrollment of beneficiaries for a national Social Safety Net (SSN) programme was completed and enrollment will commence next week. An emergency cash transfer programme targeting households of informal workers in urban areas has been developed and will soon be rolled out.

• UNICEF has supported a communications plan and activation toolkit for the Public Health National Emergency Operation Center (PHNEOC) Electronic Pass (E-Pass) System.