20 Apr 2020

About 63 people who have been quarantined in Ngamiland have tested negative for COVID-19 and released.

Adressing a press briefing on Monday April 20, Ngami District Health Management Team coordinator, Dr Malebogo Kebabonye said that the suspects were quarantined in different facilities across the district as a precautionary measure to arrest the spread of COVID-19.

Out of the 63, she said 51 were quarantined following the mandatory 14-day quarantining rule while the remaining 12 came forth because they had symptoms of being unwell as they reported that they were from high risk areas.

Currently, she said there was no confirmed case in the district except 21 people who had been quarantine at Okavango sub-district.

“In Ngami DHMT there is no one in quarantine as the last batch was discharged  last week Friday”, she added.

Furthermore, she explained that the community testing which was schedule to start today has been changed to target testing in a bid to do contact tracing of those that had come into contact with those that tested positive for COVID-19.

Maun as a tourism hub, she said was amongst the districts which were targeted for community testing for the coronavirus because the community were interacting with visitors from high risk areas.

Dr Kebabonye stated that COVID-19 was new and had daily changes hence the need for health practitioners to adjust interventions as per the changes. She underscored the need to channel the little resources where there was need.

Dr Kebabonye also appealed to the community to continue observing the health precautions in place and also stay home noting that they should understand that by purring the measures in place, government was not violating their rights but was aiming to protect them from the pandemic.

She encouraged the community to promote prevention by adhering to the safety measures in place such as frequent washing of hands with clean water and soap, to cover the mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing as well as  maintaining social distancing. ENDS