30 Nov 2021

Local scientists’ quick response leading to identification of the new COVID-19 variant named Omicron is worth applauding, assistant health minister Sethomo Lelatisitwe has said.

He was updating Parliament on the new variant Monday.

Mr Lelatisitswe warned that although little was known about the variant to make certain scientific conclusions, preliminary investigations showed that it was highly mutative and more transmissible.

“We are still following the variant and expert observations that continue to be made on it. We therefore, advise that people should not panic but remain vigilant and follow COVID-19 protocols at all times. I further wish to appeal to all Batswana and residents of this country to only trust information coming from official sources,” he said.

Mr Lelatisitswe said local scientists detected the variant as part of their routine genomic surveillance of SARS-COV-2 on four foreign nationals, who had visited Botswana on a diplomatic mission earlier this month.

He said at the conclusion of their mission, the quartet tested positive for COVID-19 after their pre-travel tests.

Mr Lelatisitswe noted contact tracing was immediately conducted and all contacts tested negative for COVID-19 but that further assessment and analysis of other positive COVID-19 samples produced 15 more cases.

“This means that to date, Botswana has recorded a total of 19 cases of the new variant. We continue to expand contact tracing to ensure that we do not leave any potential case undetected,” he said.

He said 14 of the 19 cases were reported in Greater Gaborone, four in Serowe/Palapye DHMT area while Kgatleng DHMT registered one.

The assistant minister said all cases reported by Serowe/Palapye DHMT were truck drivers detected at Martin’s Drift Border Post as part of COVID-19 screening strategy for arrivals.

Mr Lelatisitswe explained that in the Kgatleng DHMT case,  an individual who resided in South Africa and had visited his family in Botswana had tested as a pre-travel requirement.

It appeared that most of the 19 cases so far detected in Botswana were imported, he said.

Mr Lelatisitwe said the labelling by some people of Omicron as a Botswana variant was contrary to the position taken by WHO to give variants neutral names to avoid stigmatising countries.

He urged the nation to take personal responsibility amid discovery of the Omicron variant in line with President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s reset agenda, whose priority number one was to save Batswana’s lives from COVID-19.

Mr Lelatisitswe urged legislators to impress upon their constituents not to let down their guard.

He said it was disturbing to note that some Batswana did not adhere to COVID-19 protocols when having social gatherings and other functions such as workshops.

Such behaviour was bad for all and had the potential to reverse gains the country had so far made, he said. Ends