17 Aug 2021

Presidential COVID-19 task team coordinator Dr Kereng Masupu has compared rising COVID-19 infection rates among the young population to measles and chicken pox.

Addressing the nation in Gaborone on Monday, Dr Masupu said newly born babies up to 30-year-olds  were now succumbing to the virus, especially the Delta variant, adding that some US children’s hospitals were filled to capacity.

  “Locally, deaths have also started increasing in younger people and the infectivity of the virus could be compared to that of measles and chicken pox,” he said.

  Dr Masupu said the task team was hopeful that the curfew and other restrictions would assist in reducing the spread of the virus in children.

    He therefore urged Batswana to protect their children by ensuring that they continued following health protocols.

  Dr Masupu said Botswana was trailing behind its neighbours with regard to vaccination but gave the assurance that efforts were ongoing to secure vaccines for the country.

  Having fewer people vaccinated also meant an increase in infections and consequently a higher death toll, he said.

 He stressed the importance of following COVID-19 health protocols and eliminating unnecessary travel saying the more people travelled, the more they spread the virus.

 On the disease situation currently, Dr Masupu said except for Chobe with 25-50 people per 100 000 infected, all zones were severely affected. 

 He stated that in the 11-13 August period,  3 194 people tested positive bringing the number of active cases to 13 380 while there were 70 deaths.

 Dr Masupu said most COVID-positive people remained in their homes as hospitals were full.BOPA