Tujoromajo Kasuto
Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), Executive Director, Ben Nangombe, is urging people in the north to comply with Covid-19 regulations or otherwise the northern part of the county might become the new epicentre.
Nangombe however states that, “It is too early to say” to decide if as yet the north is the new Covid-19 epicentre in the country.
He says people are urged to comply with the measures that are already in place, like the restriction of movement between the zones, to observe social distance, to sanitize, avoid unnecessary gatherings and so forth, as these measures are aimed at foretelling the further spread of the virus,.
“The messaging is out there with the information campaigns for people to comply with the regulations, and it is the responsibility to ensure that all regulations are compiled with to prevent the further spread of the virus and new infections as by prevent infections we are preventing hospitalization,” Nangombe emphasises.
He furthermore appeals to people to get vaccinated, as vaccination prevent infections that lead to hospitalisation, needing oxygen and being placed on ventilators or in ICUs.
Nangombe reiterates that the only way Covid-19 can be defeated is through community support and proactiveness, “as we have said and continue to say, the only way to defeat covid-19 is only if we change our behavior, as we will not defeat Covid-19 by the number of ICU beds that we create, by the number of doctors we recruit, behavior must be changed to prevent new infection.”
He also reveals that the Ministry is waiting on the analysis of the gene sequencing of the samples collected from different parts of the country to see whether the Delta variant has spread across the country. “Once those results are made available by the University of Namibia laboratory, we will announce the research”.
This development comes as the Health Minister, Kalumbi Shangula, announced the presence of the Delta variant, which the Health ministry confirmed earlier this month.
The northern regions over the past week, 19-26 July, have reported 1942 positives cases of Covid-19 and over 200 deaths, with most of the deaths occurring in the Oshakati District in the Oshana Region. With most of the cases being from Oshikoto, Ohangwena, Kunene and Omusati regions.
