Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe, chaired by videoconference, an important meeting with the representatives of the scientific, communication and multisectorial cells around the slowdown of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Haiti and the gradual resumption of activities.

This meeting was an opportunity to discuss a series of measures to be adopted with a view to the reopening of ports, airports, schools and universities. To this end, specifications in terms of public health have been proposed by the Ministry of Public Health accompanied by recommendations from the scientific unit, with a view to determining and adopting a control protocol in order to contain the risk of recrudescence of the spread of possible Covid-19 level cases

Note that Dr. Jean-William Pape member of the Scientific Cell for the management of the health crisis had declared to AFP "The peak has been reached for the area of ​​Port-au-Prince : the number of cases is falling."

An optimism far from being shared by all.

Giussepe Loprete Head of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warns that figures should not be interpreted "Some people try to nuance, but I believe 100% that the cases of Covid-19 are underestimated in Haiti" referring to the difficulty of testing certain Haitians who do not believe in the existence of the disease and the problem linked to the ability of the authorities to massively test the population adding "[...] the figures can prove to be smoke screens if the we can't do any tests."

For Giussepe Loprete no decision should be made without a real assessment of the situation. Deconfinement is possible thanks to a careful assessment of the situation but it takes "More tests, more information, to control the situation."

Note that for the last 3 months the pandemic began, Haiti has only produced around 5,600 tests while the Dominican Republic has at the same time produced almost 136,000. Let's recall that last April, Dr. Patrick Dély, head of the Department of epidemiology, laboratory and research of the Ministry of Public Health, said that Haiti had 40 machines that can perform more than 500 tests per day. He also confirmed that the Ministry had ordered 13,000 tests for laboratory machines with the capacity to perform 7,000 tests per month https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30507-haiti-covid-19-22-tests-per-million-inhabitantshaiti-ranks-last.html

For his part, Edwin Paraison of the Zile Foundation, believes that the official statistics could be double if more tests were carried out.

In an interview granted to Agnec of the Spanish press agency EFE, Dr Jean Hughes Henrys, of the Haitian Medical Association (AMH) member of the Scientific Cell for the Management of the Health Crisis warns that if the guard is lowered too soon, a "great error" can be made "[...] We currently have examples of countries experiencing a resumption of cases. This means that whenever we let our guard down too early, there is a risk that the disease will rebound. This is probably the biggest risk we run. Experience shows that this possibility cannot be excluded," said Henrys in an interview with Efe.

Dr. Jean Hughes Henrys recognizes that the Haitian health system, due to its weaknesses, fails to register all cases of Covid. 19. However, he believes that the available figures serve to show the trend of the disease. "Today, in Port-au-Prince and in the West, we have figures which suggest that we are descending [...] but despite this apparent trend on the downside [...] the country should not start singing for victory and should remain very vigilant."

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30507-haiti-covid-19-22-tests-per-million-inhabitantshaiti-ranks-last.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30479-haiti-covid-19-daily-bulletin-april-8-2020.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30384-haiti-politic-creation-of-a-scientific-cell-to-manage-the-covid-19-crisis.html

S/ HL/ HaitiLibre