On Tuesday March 17th, 2020, Cameroon's Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute rolled out 13 measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Cameroon, with the Central African Nation recording it's first ten cases of the virus
Seven additional measures were added by the PM on April 9, 2020, amongst which was the compulsory wearing of face mask in the country beginning Monday April 13th.
These measures have had a serious effect on economic and social activities in the country especially on trade felt mostly by hotels, transporters and the catering sector.
According to an evaluation done by the government, the measures put in place greatly contributed in controlling the spread of COVID-19 with hundreds of cases recovering.
Surprising enough, with Cameroon at 1800+ cases the Prime Minister back pedal on earlier measures, reopening bars and Night clubs that has an unprecedented number of people at night. Prescribing the wearing of face masks and social distancing. As to how people can respect social distancing in a night club remains a worry
The April 30th measures also allows transportation companies to load their buses to capacity. Back tracking the former measure of not more than 50 persons in a place at a time. Taxi drivers will also resume activities fully
Other measures to salvage the economy were also adopted
Supporting the finances of companies through the allocation of a special envelope of CFAF 25 billion for the clearance of stocks
Land tax has been deferred to September 30. Giving additional months for land owners to comply with the regulations
Petite traders like buyam sellam have also been exempted from Market duties for the time being
Government further increases family allowances from CFAF 2,800 to CFAF 4,500
In Bamenda, North West Cameroon, denizens have been expressing several worries as to why the measures have been relaxed with new cases of the disease detected everyday
The relaxed measures by Government doesn't mention if church services can continue across the National territory
Schools are still being vlosed Nationwide, with a tentative date of June 1st for classes to resume
The Nation had earlier cancelled the celebrations of the International Labour Day on May 1 and the country's National Day on May 20
With the situation far from over, measures which some people saw as too relaxed to curb the virus are being removed.
Cameroon's 10 regions have recorded at least a case of the coronavirus with skeptics expressing doubts if the virus actually exists in the country.
By
Anye Nde Nsoh
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