The Democratic Republic of Congo has condemned and warned citizens over attacks on coronavirus prevention and response teams in Kinshasa, urging the minister of justice “to act rigorously against the perpetrators of these acts”.
The Council of Ministers took the decision at the weekend following an increase in attacks on health workers and other government officials on field assignments to respond to Covid-19 cases and sensitize citizens on personal hygiene.
The government also denied any manipulation of its figures for coronavirus cases and deaths.
The controversy came as health officials announced DR Congo’s latest COVID-19 figures which stand at 63 deaths from 2,025 cases, most of them in the capital, Kinshasa. So far, 312 people have recovered since the country reported its first case on March 10.
Late on Friday, the government reported that a doctor and a hospital administrator had been arrested and later released over allegations of false declaration of coronavirus cases.
A government news bulletin stated that the arrests were made following “the controversy over a patient who died this month”.
The country’s Council of Ministers met on Friday after President Felix Tshisekedi asked the health minister to investigate rumours of fake patient deaths linked to the virus.
“A negative media campaign is being waged against our country by some foreign media, with the aim of tarnishing its image in connection with the management of COVID-19,” the Council of Ministers said in the minutes of the meeting.
Meanwhile, Parliament voted on Friday to extend the state of emergency order by 15 days for the third time.
A team of Chinese medical experts who arrived Kinshasa earlier this month found no evidence that the number of virus cases or deaths were distorted, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, DR Congo’s coronavirus front man, told a news conference on Friday.
“Cases are less severe here than in Europe or the United States. We have a younger population that is more resistant to infection,” Muyembe said.
Zhu Jing, the Chinese ambassador to DR Congo, said the team of Chinese doctors did not find any “fake patients”.
“The hospitalised patients are indeed suffering from the pandemic,” he said.
‘Stop attacks on Covid-19 response teams’, DR Congo warns citizens
A boy has his temperature checked in Goma on July 31, 2019. - A second person has died of Ebola in the eastern DR Congo city of Goma, a major transport hub, the country's pointman for the epidemic told AFP on July 31, 2019. (Photo by PAMELA TULIZO / AFP)