A doctors group has warned against  mass gathering of people amid the pandemic. 

The Association of Resident Doctors Gambia (GARD) made the warning after recents superspreader events were held at the Independence Stadium in Bakau. 

President Barrow’s National People’s Party  event and the launch of singer ST’s Dinding Mansa album were two of the high profile events cited.

Musa Marena, the group’s president, said: “The virus is something that moves with people and it is always happy where crowds gathered and when people gathered some will breathe and when you breath some will cough and if you cough and you are very close you will spread the virus around.

“Despite these crowds have been happening in open areas but the closeness of the people is something that will help the virus to be transmitted from one individual to another and as a country we have seen the numbers going up recently.”

Dr Marena said people continue to disregard the measures put in place in a bid to contain its spread and raised concern that the nation’s healthcare service will be overwhelmed if more people [who] attended the events happen to contract the virus.

“I think we as the healthcare workers have failed in convincing people that Covid is real and we have seen this threat going on that massive crowds are being gathered every weekend and more weekends have been proposed such crowds to be happening subsequent weekends.

“We as healthcare workers what we can do as of now is to hope and pray that these crowds will not turnout to be a Covid centre because if only few of them happen to have Covid and it becomes very serious, we in the country will be overwhelmed – the healthcare service will be overwhelmed,” he said.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba