07 Jun 2021

Chobe District Health Management Team (DHMT) coordinator, Ms Rose Munyere says that there has been a surge of COVID-19 local cases in the district with 160 registered between June 1 and 3.

In an interview with BOPA , Ms Munyere explained since the last two weeks of May the numbers of local cases have been increasing and 91 cases were recorded within those two weeks compared to the 46 local cases in April.

Regarding the 160 cases recorded last week, Ms Munyere noted that  Chobe Junior Secondary School registered the highest number of 66 cases.

She explained DHMT conducted a risk assessment that indicated that the girls’ hostel was the hardest hit. 

She further said some gaps were identified and DHMT was working with school and the regional operations office to address the identified gaps.

Apart from the local cases Ms Munyere said an increase in the number of positive cases for returning residents who use the Kazungula Border Post has also been observed. She called on residents to continue adhering to COVID-19 protocols even when visiting other countries.

Concerning the COVID-19 vaccination, Ms Munyere said all those aged 18 years and above should register at any kgotla in Kasane. She said the registration would give DHMT an idea of how many doses would be needed by the district.

For his part, the Acting Director of Regional Operations (Ministry of Basic Education), Mr Elijah Motlhabi said his office would help the school to adhere to COVID-19 protocols.

Mr Motlhabi explained that one of the gaps that were suspected to have contributed to the surge in COVID-19 cases at the hostel was that while a contractor was previously engaged to recondition the ablution blocks, the facilities have since been damaged leaving only one shower with hot water.

He said they observed that since it was winter and everybody wanted to use hot water ,the shower was a potential COVID-19 super-spreader in the girls’ hostel. 

Mr Motlhabi however, indicated that a tender for repairing the showers had been floated and the project would be fast tracked.

Another issue that Mr Motlhabi suspected could have contributed to the increase in COVID-19 cases was that the cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces was only done during the morning shift but was not done in the afternoon as Ipelegeng workers who are engaged do not work the whole day.

He indicated that the PTA had volunteered to assist with cleaning when the Ipelegeng employees have knocked off, which he applauded the parents for, adding that with those mitigation measures he hoped that the situation would normalise. ends