16 Apr 2020

Head of the District Health Management Team (DHMT) for Mabutsane Sub-district, Dr Christopher Chembe has indicated that they are currently left with only one person in quarantine awaiting results, while 11 others have since been released after testing negative.

Speaking in an interview, Dr Chembe indicated that all the 12 cases were registered before the mandatory quarantine process came into effect, and that ever since, the area had not registered any suspected cases.

Moreover, Dr Chembe indicated that the Mabutsane Sub-district, which has some villages along the international Trans-Kalahari highway, was in the risk of imported coronavirus cases as haulage trucks continued to ply the road transporting essential goods.

Dr Chembe said to address that risk, they conducted public health education at the Sekoma fuel point, a favourite overnight parking spot for the international truckers, and also did house to house campaign in Sekoma to equally sensitise the villagers, as they were more at risk than other villages.

“Sekoma is our hottest spot, considering the fact that it is the only place in our area where trucks park in large numbers. So, we had to do public education to sensitise truckers and villagers.

The precautionary message, according to our observation is being well heeded across the whole sub-district, and this gives us satisfaction and hope that we will prevent any further cases,” he said.

Dr Chembe also applauded law enforcement agencies, saying they managed to help instill order in places where people seemed reluctant to abide by the law.

Meanwhile, Dr Chembe also indicated that the isolation centre they had planned to establish at Mabutsane had since failed to take off, and that they had since taken a decision to relocate the centre to the nearby Kokong for ‘logistical reasons’. Ends