13 Dec 2020

Martin’s Drift Border Post will soon receive the Rapid Antigen Test kits to boost COVID-19 testing capacity, Presidential COVID-19 Task Force coordinator, Dr Kereng Masupu has said.

Dr Masupu revealed on December 12, during a visit to the border post. He was accompanied by the task force scientific officer, Dr Mogomotsi Matshaba. 

“We began border post visits at Pont Drift, Platjan and Zanzibar. We’ve embarked on these visits to inspect preparedness following the re-opening of borders, to ensure safety at the borders, since they have re-opened for travellers,” said Dr Masupu. 

“We also want to appreciate challenges experienced by officers at border posts in executing their duties and ensure their needs are responded to timeously for border operations to run smoothly. We also want to ensure proper infection control measures are in place here, for the safety of both border officials and travellers,” he added.

The COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test Kits, Dr Masupu said, were already availed at the Pioneer and Tlokweng border posts. Through the test kits, he said officials would be able to conduct sufficient number of tests, adding that the kits would also help speed up release of test results.

He also stressed that it was critical for his team to ensure safety at the borders, considering that the number of border users continued to increase during the festive season.

Dr Masupu cautioned officers at the border post to ensure they wore proper surgical face masks suitable for front liners at all times given that they were at a higher risk of being infected with coronavirus because they interacted with numerous people on a daily basis. 

Officials at the border, who included, Botswana Police Service, Botswana Unified Revenue Services, African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership and Immigration officers were concerned that the border post experienced poor network and shortage of water and toilets. 

These challenges, Dr Masupu said, were administrative issues and required to be resolved promptly. Without enough water and toilets at the border post, he said it would be impossible to control infection. 

He called upon stakeholders to work together to ensure seamless operations at the border post. 

Furthermore, Dr Masupu encouraged citizens to protect themselves from coronavirus by complying with all COVID-19 health protocols during the festive season. 

He said it was critical that everyone practiced social distancing, wore a face mask appropriately at all times, washed hands with clean water and soap or used hand sanitizer.

Dr Masupu also appealed to citizens to refrain from unnecessary local and international travels during the festive season. ends