29 Jan 2020

The Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation has appealed to Batswana students and other citizens in China to contact either the embassy or the ministry.

The appeal made by the ministry’s Ms Maipelo Mogotsi during a stakeholders media conference on the outbreak of the Coronavirus in China.

Director of Health Services, Dr Malaki Tshipayagae had stated that the whereabouts of some students were not known because they had not registered with the Botswana embassy in China.

“There are 33 Batswana students schooling at Wuhan University and the embassy has accounted for only 21, who are still in China and cannot go anywhere as movement has been restricted in the city,” he said.

Dr Tshipayagae said there roughly 500 Batswana staying in China who were difficult to trace because they did not register with the embassy.

Ms Mogotsi expressed concern about Batswana who stayed in foreign countries without registering with the embassy but only showed up when they had lost passports or had domestic problems.

A concerned parent, Ms Botsalo Ramogae said Batswana students studying in China were locked up in their rooms.

“Those children are traumatised, spending days and weeks closed up in their rooms not even knowing what tomorrow will bring, given that some of them are first year students who are not yet familiar with the country,” she said.

WHO representative, Dr Josephine Namboze, said though the cause of the virus was not known, it was suspected to have first been transmitted from animal to human being.

She said the Chinese, who had discovered the virus in Wuhan, the sprawling capital of central China’s Hubei Province notified WHO on December 21 last year.

“One thing we are emphasising to every country and in this case Botswana, is to intensify surveillance, which is trying to detect any case of this disease as soon as possible,” she said.

Dr Namboze said there were an estimated 2 744 cases including 80 deaths in China noting that the outbreak was only concentrated in China.

She stressed observance of good hygiene practices in preventing the spread of the virus.

“It is of utmost importance to cover your mouth as some infections are transmitted by droplets from the mouth as one sneezes,” she said..

Meanwhile Dr Tshipayagae has said screening was supposed to have started at all ports of entry and that information pamphlets would be availed.

Isolation points had been set up in Maun, Gaborone, Kasane and Francistown, he said.

The coronavirus is said to be part of a family of viruses that cause a lot of illness which branch from common colds and at times are more severe.

Stakeholders included the ministries of Health and Wellness, International Affairs and Cooperation, Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology and WHO. ENDS