26 Feb 2020

Two isolation rooms have been identified at Kasane Primary Hospital as quarantine areas for possible suspicious cases of the deadly COVID-19, commonly referred to as the coronavirus. 

Addressing a Chobe District full council meeting on February 25, the Chairperson, Mr Amos Mabuku said in response to the deadly virus, sensitisation exercises commenced with health workers, Immigration and BURS staff, members of District Disaster Management Committee as well as hotel and retail staff. 

He explained that port health officers were also doing mandatory screening of incoming travellers at points of entry, adding that the screening would be extended to Ngoma Border Gate as soon as the screening equipment arrived in Kasane. 

He said the first consignment was deployed at the two Kazungula Border Posts and the Kasane International Airport.  

The chairperson explained that although there was a surge of the virus in other countries, to date there had been no confirmed or suspicious cases in the district. 

“Let us continue to urge the public to take heed of messages and press briefings from the Ministry of Health and Wellness in order to limit the spread,” he added.  On malaria, Mr Mabuku noted that the District Health Management Team (DHMT) continued the fight, revealing that the indoor residual spraying coverage during this current malaria season was at 80 per cent. He said at least 20 malaria cases were recorded and clinically confirmed from October 2019 to date. 

“Eighteen of the cases were imported from other countries, whil two were from Parakarungu. The latter were provided with treated nets after they were found to be residing in makeshift structures that could not be sprayed,” he said.    

On public health, Mr Mabuku said Chobe District was concerned about the high rate of illegal dumping in undeveloped plots, especially building rubble. 

He said the rubble was needed at the landfill, as it was used for waste covering and attracted no financial charge. 

“I have since been charged with the responsibility to work closely with the responsible department for administering a waste management project. 

I expect my team from Chobe and the one from Sweden to start community education by implementing the communication strategy they recently developed, which awaits a steering committee approval,” he added.    

On issues of environmental pollution, he explained that the council had installed a used oil tank at the landfill, through the assistance of Tshole Trust. 

The chairperson therefore urged councillors to assist the council in mobilising the community to utilise the receptacle at no cost.  

He also urged the councillors to support the 2020/2021 budget speech, especially to draw attention to the four key national priorities that guided it; being the promotion of export-led growth; ensuring more efficient government spending and financing; building human capital and provision of appropriate infrastructure.  

“This budget challenges us to explore how best to support the private sector, through enabling policies, laws and regulations and support infrastructure,” he added.

Mr Mabuku said the budget also challenged government to invest more on skills development that would enable the country not only to successfully launch itself into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but also compete favourably within the world economy. 

He said they were also challenged to come up with efficient ways of financing the council’s budget requirement and align its service charges to the value proposition to consumers of various government services. 

The council then approved the 2020/2021 recurrent budget of over P89 million, which reflects an increase of 8.56 percent, though it says it was a severely constrained budget to satisfy the diverse needs of the district. ends