Doubters quarantine: DRC civil society campaign combats virus denials

Civil society organizations in the Democratic Republic of Congo are taking to the front line of coronavirus sensitization efforts as the pandemic continues to spike in the vast Central African nation.

Activists and NGOs in are leading efforts against the denial of the pandemic. They are basically fighting public misconceptions about the novel coronavirus.

“Everything suggests that this pandemic does not exist here in the Congo, that the authorities are acting in such a way as to bring in funds from external partners, that is what is being said.

“Yet the disease is among us, it is killing people, it is continuing to spread and the challenge is indeed to eradicate these doubts that are being nurtured among our population,” one campaigner said.

The NGOs have now embarked on massive sensitization despite their security being compromised: “We are prey to many situations, vis-à-vis the Kuluna (bandits), we were threatened last week by the Kuluna in Ward 11 and we always manage to help the community.”

As of May 31, the country had recorded 3,070 cases of COVID-19, including 448 recoveries and 72 deaths.