17 Mar 2021

Ten new pupils at Mmadinare Senior Secondary School have been put in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 during the mass testing of Form Four pupils at the school this week.

Chief medical officer for Mmadinare Cluster, Dr Nhlanhla Rabanyana said in an interview that the test was to reduce the burden of COVID-19 in facilities as there was already evidence of community transmission within the greater Selebi Phikwe.

He said Mmadinare school so far registered 280 positive cases, 74 of which were active.

He said immediately after results came out, those who tested positive were provided with psycho-social support and taken to an isolation centre within the school, adding that a total of 553 pupils, 10 of whom tested positive, were tested on Monday and Tuesday. 

The isolation centre, he said, was big enough to accommodate 400 pupils.

Dr Rabanyana further explained that it was risky to send the pupils who tested positive back home for isolation because they were likely to infect elders at their respective homes, the majority of whom already had underlying conditions.

In addition, he said healthcare workers and volunteers from Botswana Red Cross Society  had been deployed at the facility to manage the positive cases.

Other measures put in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission, he said, included the supply of KN95 masks and other personal protective clothing by the District Health Management Team as well as training of teachers on how to handle positive cases.

The school further established a COVID-19 task team, which includes pupils to help identify positive cases as pupils were more open to their peers.

“Testing for COVID-19 does not mean that we have stopped COVID-19, therefore, we encourage Mmadinare school community to continue following the health protocols,” he said.

For her part, the school head,  Ms Josephine Madikwe added that at the beginning of the year her school had overwhelming positive cases among the Form Fives, hence the decision to test the Form Fours upon arrival.

She said a block of hostels for boys and girls was then turned into an isolation centre to help manage the positive cases instead of sending them back home.

To compensate for the lost time, she said pupils in isolation were given school work.

Mmadinare Senior Secondary School has a total of 754 Form Four pupils and 665 Form Five pupils. ends