16 Aug 2020

Kweneng District Health Management Team (DHMT) head, Ms Chipo Petlo, has dismissed as untrue allegations that there was COVID-19 scare at Molepolole prisons.

She explained in an interview that three prisoners who were sent to Molepolole prison from Lobatse were casual contacts of a COVID- 19 positive inmate who was classified as an index client in clinical terminology.

The DHMT coordinator clarified that procedure was such that all remands were kept in Lobatse at a centre dedicated to quarantine remands before they were transferred to various places to await trial.

Therefore, she said, on this particular case, the trio was transferred from Lobatse to Molepolole prison after they had completed their 14-day quarantine to await trial.

Ms Petlo said Lobatse prison management later established that a remand prisoner who might have come into contact with the three while in quarantine in Lobatse tested positive to COVID-19 leaving the three as casual contacts.

An arrangement was made to send the three to Lobatse for quarantine once again. 

However, Ms Petlo said the three had tested negative before they were transferred to Molepolole.

Furthermore, she stated that contact tracing procedure showed that the trio was not close contacts but rather casual ones.

Ms Petlo therefore, appealed to Molepolole prison staff and inmates to remain calm since there was no positive COVID- 19 case in Molepolole prison. Ends