01 Oct 2020

The old immigration office, which is being repurposed into a COVID-19 testing laboratory, should be operational by mid-October, coordinator of the national COVID-19 task team, Dr Kereng Masupu has said.

In an interview after touring Mamuno Border facility at Charleshill recently, Dr Masupu who was happy with the pace of the renovation, said the laboratory was expected to test more specimens compared to the current mobile testing facility.

He said the laboratory would accommodate 1 000 specimen per day and serve Ghanzi region and immediate zones.

“Even if we could experience breakdown of the mobile testing facility, we would have better back-up,” Dr Masupu stated.

He underscored the need to accelerate testing capacity to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Dr Masupu said besides Mamuno border testing facility, there were other facilities in Gaborone, Francistown, Palapye and Kasane and hinted that they would like to establish another COVID-19 testing laboratory in the near future.

Dr Masupu commended Mamuno facility personnel for improved efficiency and turnaround time, saying, ‘compared to the previous visit there is an improvement and there is not even a single truck at the holding site.’

Meanwhile, during the just ended Ghanzi full council session, Ghanzi DHMT reported that they managed five local COVID- 19 cases and all of them recovered and discharged from hospital.

At that time, it was also reported that there was one COVID-19 positive client at Ghanzi hospice.

The DHMT also confirmed that there were two reported deaths due to COVID-19 in the region, both elderly patients who were admitted to hospital due to other ailments.ends