11 Mar 2021

Maiteko Junior Secondary School in Mabutsane has been temporarily closed after 98 pupils tested positive for COVID-19 last week.

Speaking in an interview, the District Health Management Team (DHMT) coordinator for the southern region, Ms Josephine Mosimanewakgosi said classes were not running though she could not reveal when the school was closed, or how long it would be closed since education matters were not her jurisdiction.

Ms Mosimanewakgosi said they tested the pupils after they were declared close contacts of a fellow pupil who was a close contact of a case outside the school.

“After we tested the pupil, it then led to close contacts being traced to the school.

That is when we tested the pupils and identified the other 97 cases,” she said.

She said the pupils were currently isolated and quarantined at the school hostels.

“We segregated the hostels according to positive and probables for boarding pupils while day scholars have been isolated and quarantined at their homes,” she said.

Ms Mosimanewakgosi said they only gave out the statistics and that appropriate authorities would decide whether to close or not looking at the risk factors and the number affected.

She also said the school was the only hard-hit in the area while Mabutsane Primary School was not a concern.

On the COVID-19 situation in the Mabutsane Sub-district, Ms Mosimanewakgosi indicated that as of 8 March they had registered 196 positive cases, with 141 still active, while 55 were recoveries.

She said they had not yet recorded any casualties, and that all the cases were accordingly isolated.

She attributed the low statistics to the fact that most villages in the sub-district were isolated from urban areas, and that most people from the area hardly visited urban areas.

Ms Mosimanewakgosi also indicated that the isolation centre in the village would soon start operating, saying it was awaiting installation of a sceptic tank.

She said they were currently isolating most of their patients at Ditsweletse Clinic in Jwaneng, which is the only isolation centre in the region.

She, however, expressed concern at the continued violation of COVID-19 protocols by members of the public as well as pupils.

“We are worried at the fact that pupils do not practice proper use of masks.

When we enquired from them they flatly told us that they do not believe COVID-19 exists as they had never seen anyone dying from it. That is how worrying the situation is,” she said.

She said apart from that, there was also shortage of water at Maiteko JSS, which hampered basic protocols like frequent washing of hands.ENDS