17 Jan 2021

Mahalapye District Health Management Team coordinator, Ms Thandie Kgosiesele says due to the new COVID-19 variant, the sub-district was registering an average of 10 to 15 cases daily.

The coordinator revealed this on Friday when updating the sub-district COVID-19 committee  meeting.

She expressed concern that the COVID-19 trend had now taken a different toll due to the emergence of the new variant.

“With this increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, we have also registered a second death. We are really experiencing challenges of shortage of space for admission purposes and transport for contact tracing,” she said

With more people becoming asymptomatic, the DHMT coordinator said a lot of positive cases were going to be home isolated, as private facilities were no longer used for isolation or quarantine.

Ms Kgosiesele said the DHMT would intensify its assessment and public education, ‘as it is time now that a lot of COVID-19 positive cases are going to be home isolated.’

“We also want to emphasise the importance of control and prevention to the community and ensure they are ready, as the COVID-19 variants can keep changing rapidly,” she added.

For his part, Mahalapye District Hospital senior medical officer, Dr Fredrick Mpere said there were 346 confirmed COVID-19 positive cases in the sub-district.

Of these, Dr Mpere said 39 were actively positive and under care.

He also noted that there had been 307 recoveries, of which 305 were discharged, whilst two had died.

In his report, District No.16 Deputy Officer Commanding, Superintendent Morris Kwena said the police had arrested 585 people for failing to comply with COVID-19 protocols from December 24, 2020 to January 3, 2021.

Of the 585 cases, he said 302 had been closed and fines paid whilst 283 were still pending.

In the same period, Supt. Kwena said 58 people were arraigned for failing to wear face masks whilst 48 were apprehended for drinking alcohol in prohibited areas.

Additionally, he said 366 people were also arrested for failing to abide by curfew regulations while four others were arrested for selling liquor without trading licenses.

The meeting was attended by Mahalapye chief, Kgosi Duncan Segotsi, Mahalapye West MP, Mr David Tshere, Sub-district Council chairperson, Mr Banthasetse Merementsi and Mahalapye assistant district commissioner, Mr Bakani Mathumo. Ends