24 Nov 2020

Mahalapye Sub-District has recorded 188 COVID-19 positive cases and one death, Mahalapye District Health Management Team (DHMT) head, Dr Maxwell Mungisi had revealed.

Giving an update on the COVID-19 situation in the sub-district during the ongoing Mahalapye Sub-district Council meeting, on Monday, Dr Mungisi said of these 188 cases, 121 were females, whilst 67 were males.

“So far, we have done 4 972 COVID-19 tests. Of these, 188 were positive cases, 169 have been discharged, 18 are still active while one died. Of the 18 active cases, seven are under facility isolation, whilst 11 are under home isolation.

‘As you are well aware that now we are not in prevention, but we are actually in containment mode as the disease is already here. So, there is need that continuous education and awareness to the community is maintained,” said Dr Mungisi.

The district, he said had one isolation centre, which is Mahalapye Hospice, with 12 self-contained rooms and 2 beds per room, making it a 24 bed isolation centre.

 This isolation centre, he said also had some offices on the other side, which the DHMT was planning to convert into rooms.

“However, the challenge we have is that they are 14 rooms, but they do not have enough ablution amenities, so as DHMT we are working hard, through the Department of Buildings, to ensure that we put extra ablution blocks. We also have nine quarantine centres, being hotels and guest houses,” he added.

Other challenges, Dr Mungisi said included shortage of transport and staff.  He informed the meeting that Mahalapye Sub-district, under Greater Palapye COVID-19 zone, had been chosen as one of the COVID-19 Sentinel Surveillance Sites in the country.  The survey began on October 5 and is expected to end on December 31.

In Mahalapye, he said the surveillance sites were the Lynn’s mortuary, Mahalapye District Hospital, Botswana Police, Railway clinic, Bus Rank and Baitiredi clinic.

Since the beginning of the surveillance, he said 678 COVID- 19 tests had been done, with 196 having tested positive.  Currently, the DHMT head said there were 65 people under quarantine, of which 62 were under home quarantine and three under facility quarantine.

Mahalapye Sub-district recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 positive case in Mahalapye, on August 10.  Since then, Dr Mungisi said the number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases, in the district, continued to increase with 21 recorded in September, 84 in October and 18 in November, so far. ENDS