Libya is not able to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country lacks the necessary equipment to conduct tests and protect medical personnel, former Health Minister and Libyan delegate to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Reida El Oakley, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2020) Libya is not able to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country lacks the necessary equipment to conduct tests and protect medical personnel, former Health Minister and Libyan delegate to the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Reida El Oakley, told Sputnik.
"What we fear in Libya is the lack of capabilities to conduct thousands of [medical] tests in order to isolate the virus carriers, and provide doctors and medical personnel with protection equipment," El Oakley said.
The doctor also stressed the importance of stopping the transmission of COVID-19, adding that most countries were still not capable of dealing with the infection.
"The health sector in most of the world's countries, including Libya, is not qualified to cope with this pandemic and the enormous number of patients in a short period of time. Therefore, we must stop the virus transmission between people for as long as possible," El Oakley said.
On March 11, WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. To combat the crisis, countries around the world took some preventive measures, including shutting down their borders and suspending all domestic and international flights.
As of Tuesday, Libya has confirmed eight coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus resource center.
