The government of Madagascar has announced the deployment of soldiers and doctors to the city of Toamasina (east), after a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country’s second largest city.

Doctors must carry out thorough examinations to see if the deaths are due to another disease (...) or if they are really due to severe acute respiratory distress, the critical form of Covid 19.

“Doctors must carry out thorough examinations to see if the deaths are due to another disease (…) or if they are really due to severe acute respiratory distress, the critical form of Covid 19,” explained the spokeswoman for the anti-Covid 19 operational command centre, Prof. Hanta Marie Danielle Vololontiana, during her daily broadcast on national television on Sunday.

The government has decided to send reinforcements to Toamasina due to the increase of coronavirus cases,” communication minister Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy told AFP on Monday.

The Council of Ministers also announced the opening of an investigation into the causes of the death of a doctor in Toamasina.