07 Jun 2020

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Lemogang Kwape has appealed to Batswana to maintain COVID-19 protocols as the number of imported positive cases continue to increase.

Dr Kwape told BOPA in an interview on Friday that Batswana should focus more on prevention of the Coronavirus and comply with  all the health protocols. 

He said the increasing number of positive cases in the neighbouring states were disturbing and appealed to Batswana to avoid travelling outside the country saying that those who cross the border illegally were putting Batswana at risk of contracting the corona virus.

He called on Batswana residing along the borders to always be on the lookout for border jumpers.

The minister said he was aware that Batswana had relatives in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe whom they used to visit on regular basis but appealed to them to avoid unnecessary visits. 

He said it was every citizen’s responsibility to guard against such a practice as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Dr Kwape said Botswana had managed to contain the spread of the virus through regular surveillance that had been initiated across the country for all cases having travel history from COVID-19 high risk countries and their contacts.

“Our focus is on adherence to core capacities for the disease preparedness and response which include surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, hospital preparedness, logistics management, capacity building of health care staff and risk communication to the community, he said”.

He said steps had been taken, such as to place under quarantine those suspected of having contracted the virus as well as restriction of movements. 

These regulations, he said helped the country’s health system to combat the disease.

“Our health system is not as strong as we would like it to be and that is why we focused so intensively on prevention and early detection. We are also worried a bit about our capacity to deal with a large outbreak and my plea to Batswana is to guard jealously against  contracting this virus,” said Dr Kwape. 

He advised that Batswana should continue to wash their hands with clean water and soap or sanitise regularly, wear face masks and maintain social distancing. Ends