Andrew Kathindi
With the two week lockdown in Erongo region set to end on 22 June and cases rising almost daily, Health minister Kalumbi Shangula says the extension or lifting of the stage 1 lockdown will not be determined by the rising cases.
“We don’t take a decision based one or two cases. We take the totality of the factors into consideration, epidemiological, public health, economical, then we take the sum total and make a decision. There are many factors being taken into consideration, not just the number of cases. The public will know before the expiry of the deadline,” he said.
He, however, said although the rising COVID-19 cases are worrying, his ministry will not implement mass testing.
“We are concerned about the rising numbers that is why we put Erongo under lockdown [again]. If it was not the case, if we were not worried, we wouldn’t have done anything about it,” said the Health Minister.
This comes as two new cases from the Erongo region were announced by the ministry on Thursday morning, one in Walvis Bay and another in Swakopmund.
The Erongo region has been under lockdown since 8 June after it was reverted back to stage 1 of the state of emergency due to lack of adherence to lockdown regulations.
Since then, five people have tested positive for COVID-19.
“People don’t understand mass testing and they use the world recklessly. Mass testing means testing whoever you find, whether in the shop or in the street. There’s nothing like that. We are doing expanded targeted testing. For example, you look at a fish factory with 800 workers who are coming from home and working in close contact and we suspect there’s likelihood of transmission, we’ll test the cohort,” Shangula said.
He further noted that testing teams target people in high risk occupations such as immigration officers and health workers who deal with so many people who might potentially be positive.
“That is our approach, we don’t just go into the street to test anybody,” he said.
This also comes as concerns have been raised after it emerged that permit holders from the Erongo region where allowed to travel to outside of the region without being tested. They are being screened for temperature, although carriers of the virus can be asymptomatic and have no elevated temperature.
“The problem is people are trying to put the responsibility on others, other than themselves. Even if you are with a person who is not positive, as long as you also take care of yourself and take the preventive measures [you are in a good position to avoid infection]. People want not to do anything but to expect someone else to do the policing for them,” said Shangula.
“So, there are basic things that if everybody does, those protective measures then no one will be able to infect anyone but they don’t want to do go to any trouble to protect themselves then they say that other people must be policing others so that they don’t infect them but that’s not fair.”
Erongo region, Health director Anna Jonas revealed there are currently 40 people under quarantine in the Erongo region.
