17 Aug 2020

Tsabong Magistrate Court re-opened yesterday after it was closed for disinfection following exposure to a COVID-19 case.

Speaking in an interview on Friday, Tsabong District Health Management Team (DHMT) coordinator, Dr Gaboelwe Rammekwa said the court was closed on Wednesday for the purpose of COVID-19 contact tracing after a client who had come for mention on July 25, tested positive for COVID-19 at Lobatse Prison.

Dr Rammekwa said health officials were currently working with the court and Werda Police on infection control.

The accused person was brought in by Werda Police.

He was remanded after allegedly breaking into a shop in Werda and was sent to Lobatse Prison on July 29, where he tested positive for COVID-19.

Tsabong DHMT health officials were notified of the results by the Lobatse DHMT on August 6.

Dr Rammekwa said upon receiving the information, health officials hastened to conduct contact tracing starting with the two main places where the person had been to such as the Werda Police Station and the court.

It is believed that the COVID-19 positive prisoner came to Kgalagadi District from Ramotswa on July 19 before lockdown in the Greater Gaborone Zone and stayed for about a week before allegedly committing the crime.

The accused allegedly came to Werda to visit a friend and in the process, broke the law with three other culprits, whom the police nabbed and sent to court.

However, the results of his partners in crime came out negative.

Dr Rammekwa highlighted that Tsabong DHMT worked with the police and tested all prisoners before being transported to Lobatse, but it was unclear how this batch was sent to Lobatse without having been tested.

Thus, she noted, it was possible that the positive case could have infected the area for the reason that he was on a window period at day eight when he left Kgalagadi District to Lobatse and his results were received on day 14 from Lobatse DHMT.

To manage the situation, 16 Werda police officers who form part of the frontline workers, and 44 court employees have been tested and their workplaces disinfected. Their results, Dr Rammekwa said, were expected within 72 hours.

Dr Rammekwa said it was unclear where the person got COVID-19 from, whether he came with it from Ramotswa, contracted it while in Kgalagadi or Lobatse and such made contact tracing complicated.

Meanwhile, she said since the outbreak of COVID-19, Kgalagadi South had no recorded cases, adding that health officials continued to conduct public education in villages to ensure that communities continued to adhere to the set health protocols.

She expressed worry that three of the quarantines were filled with mostly border jumpers from Werda, Makopong, Draaihoek and Hereford.

The DHMT coordinator highlighted that there were 35 people under quarantine at present, a number too high when compared to the population of Kgalagadi South.

Dr Rammekwa said Tsabong DHMT had tested 236 and did follow-ups after they had served quarantine time, to further educate and reintegrate them into the society as they could be stigmatised. ENDS