24 Apr 2020

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has embarked on an exercise to expand the COVID-19 contact tracing in Siviya.

North East District Health Management Team (DHMT) coordinator Ms Rodah Phindela stated that the exercise was meant to close any gaps in case there were any contacts that were skipped during the first tracing.

Ms Phindela said health officials discovered that there were people who were initially identified as contacts but then denied having contacted the COVID-19 patient when approached for testing by medical officers.

She said this was due to the fact that contacts feared being discriminated against and stigmatised by the public.

Therefore, she noted that this resulted in the ministry taking a decision to conceal the identity of COVID-19 patients and from now on, results would be published as a collective without revealing the identity of the patients to avoid stigmatisation.

The coordinator explained that the ministry had completed the contact tracing as per their lead, however it was imperative that they go back to Siviya to eliminate any discrepancies.

She highlighted that to reinforce the second tracing exercise, a technical team from Gaborone comprising of a nurse, a health care assistant and a statistician had arrived in Siviya this week.

Ms Phindela stated that the reason for bringing in a statistician was to intensify, interrogate all variables in Siviya village for a seamless outcome.

The coordinator said Siviya, with the help of its leadership has been sensitized on the upcoming exercise in order to allay fears, adding that only those identified during the second tracing would be tested.

She explained that the 36 initial contacts that tested negative for COVID-19 would not be re-tested. Ends