A 33-year old Toronto woman, Hawa Mire, has asked authorities in Ottawa to bring her father back home from Somalia where he had traveled to visit friends and family.
Mire said that her 60-year old father, Yahia Mire, is in a country ravaged by COVID-19, which it seems to be struggling to keep under control.
So far, Somalia, a nation of roughly 15 million people, has reported 601 COVID-19 cases, which the Mayor of Mogadishu claims is too low.
In his estimates, Mayor Omar Muhamoud Finnish says over 500 deaths have been recorded in Mogadishu alone contrary to the government’s reports of 28 deaths.
Hawa said that her father traveled to Somalia before COVID-19 struck. Since then, he has been unable to leave the Horn of Africa nation.
The Federal Government of Somalia banned all domestic and international flights. Consequently, Yahia is unable to leave. Her family is also unable to visit him in Somalia.
Both Hawa and her father are active members of the Somali-Canadian community.
She is worried that her father, who lives with diabetes and a serious hearth condition, is more at risk of contracting COVID-19 the longer he remains in the East African nation.