14 Jul 2021

Greater Selebi Phikwe zone, which covers Selebi Phikwe, Mmadinare and Bobonong clusters, has recorded a rise in new COVID-19 cases from 480 to 1 035 from July 3 to 10.

Regional Health Management Team coordinator for Greater Selebi Phikwe, Mr Bapaphi Mbulawa said in an interview that the region transitioned from orange to red with a high possibility of transitioning to white just like Gaborone and Greater Francistown zones.

Mr Mbulawa raised a concern that Bobonong registered the highest new cases with 548 while Selebi Phikwe and Mmadinare registered 263 and 224 respectively.

He also shared that the death toll had also gone up from 52 to 57, urging the Greater Selebi Phikwe communities to join forces with government to combat the virus by minimising unnecessary travels, avoiding gatherings and adhering to COVID -19 protocols of regular washing of hands or sanitising, maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.

He added that the total number of cases for Greater Selebi Phikwe stood at 7 700 with a total of 6 601 recoveries.

Of the 7 700 cases, he said, Selebi Phikwe recorded 3 465 cases while Bobonong and Mmadinare clusters recorded 2 228 and 2 007 cases respectively.

Regarding COVID-19 vaccination, Mr Mbulawa said the area initially received 16 071 doses while the second batch contained 9 255.

The drugs received, he said, were Covishield, Astrazaneca, Sinovac and Pfizer, which would  be used to vaccinate a targeted number of 24 754 in the first phase. He said so far, a total of 11 905 people had received the first jab while 8 880 people had been fully vaccinated.

He also noted that vaccination of health workers was also ongoing; adding that 452 health workers had been fully vaccinated while 992 had already received their first jab.

Mr Mbulawa said the region had targeted to vaccinate a total of 1 150 health workers.

Selebi Phikwe has  had 214 cases recorded across the school community. Ends