…as region records two cases
Andrew Kathindi
There is a growing concern in the Ministry of Health and Social Services that those travelers who leave the Erongo region untested could pose a risk of virus transmission for the Khomas region.
Acting Director of Khomas Region in the Health Ministry, Patemoshela Hamunyela, told the Windhoek Observer that she was worried about people leaving Erongo region without being tested. They could infect people in other regions.
“We are very worried that there is quite a number of travelers that are coming out of Erongo region. We don’t know whether they are given permits, or they come through other means, but we are worried that they will at a later stage bring transmission in this region. This is quite a big region and if we happen to have local transmission, it will be very dangerous,” she said.
This comes as two new cases in Windhoek where announced by the Health Minister, Kalumbi Shangula on Friday, 3 July.
Part of 42 new cases announced by the Minister, is a 28-year-old Male who took himself to a private doctor after suffering from COVID-19 related symptoms, where his sample was taken to a private lab for testing and results came out positive.
“We cannot say if it is an imported case or a local transmission, we are still busy getting all the information. We don’t know about his travel history, or if he came into contact with someone from Walvis Bay. All we can say is that he is from here (Windhoek) and he took himself to a local doctor and the test was done at PathCare,” said Health Ministry Public Relations Officer (PRO) Manga Libita.
Her comments comes as a learner at Mariental Secondary School who tested positive for COVID-19 was found to have left Walvis Bay before returning to school last month, leading to the temporary closure of the school and a two-week delay in stage 2 of the Ministry of Education’s roll out plan for face-to-face teaching.
The Windhoek Observer reported last month that Case 32, an officer at the Kuisebmund Prison left the region to visit her family in Katutura, Windhoek before testing positive for COVID-19.
“Currently we are working closely with the police. Lucky enough, our community is alerted and people are really reporting these people anytime of the day, and then the police take them to quarantine. Those who happen to be related to the cases that are positive in Erongo region are made as contacts. And our disease surveillance officers are working closely with them,” said Hamunyela.
Meanwhile, she said that contact tracing at the 77 on Independence apartments, where case 33, a South African fugitive was arrested, has uncovered people who are currently in quarantine at Roof of Africa. This was done and the situation is being monitored closely.
“The person who was there was in a closed setup. It was not like he was in contact with everybody else. And after the person was removed from there, the elevators were fumigated and everywhere elsewhere we thought the person made movements were disinfected. I don’t think there’s anything much to worry about. If you were in the building and there was a suspected case and you were never in close contact, it does not mean you have to worry about that case.”
Currently, Erongo residents continue to leave the region provided they have a permit.
Director of Primary Health Care Services in the Health Ministry, Naemi Shoopala argued that this cannot be suspended as, “There are cases that warrant a continuation of the permit situation. We need to send health workers to Erongo to rescue the situation; they have to get a permit. There might be cases that critically warrant coming out of Erongo. Those are the ones that we said should be assessed. We are trying to say we should limit movements of people who are travelling for no valid reason, so that we can contain the infection within that locality.”
UNAIDS Senior Strategic Information Adviser, Alladji Osseni has made a claim that rising Covid-19 cases could reach 700 for the Erongo region alone and 14,000 countrywide if things continue as they are.
