….as 10-year old becomes youngest case
Andrew Kathindi
Namibia has recorded its single biggest jump in one day for COVID-19 positive cases, after the Minister of Health, Kalumbi Shangula, on Friday evening announced five new cases from Walvis Bay.
This is in addition to the 40th case, a Namibian male from Kuisebmund, whom the minister announced in the morning (Friday), bringing the total number of cases in the country to 45.
All five new cases have been in contact with case 34, the 39-year old female, who is an officer at the Walvis Bay Correctional Services.
“Case number 41 is a 10-year old Namibian female from Walvis Bay, a daughter and a contact of Case No 34. She has been in quarantine since she was identified as a contact. She does not have COVID-19 related symptoms. Case number 42 is a 40-years old Namibian male, from Walvis Bay, a contact of case number 34. He has no COVID-19 related symptoms,” said Shangula.
Meanwhile, the 44th case is a 36-year old Namibian male from Walvis Bay, another contact of case 34. He had been in quarantine since he was identified as a contact. He does not have COVID-19 related symptoms.
Finally, a 28-year old Namibian female from Walvis Bay is case 45. She is a contact of Case No 34. She has been in quarantine since she was identified as a contact. She has runny nose but otherwise she is in a satisfactory condition.
“This is a cluster transmission in a close setting. These cases are a clear demonstration that our strategy of contact identification and isolation is bearing fruit. The number of these cases should therefore not cause panic and alarm.”
This comes as the Erongo region, which anxiously awaits the government’s pronouncement on the status of its stage 1 lockdown, running up until Monday, 22 June, has in recent weeks become a hotbed for local transmissions for COVID-19.
Four cases from Erongo region were reported earlier this week, three of them from Walvis Bay and another from Swakopmund, a 55-year-old female with no travel history. This includes a 20-year-old male learner of the Mariental High School, whose positive test has thrown the education sector into a frenzy with unions calling for the suspension of all face-to-face teaching.
The learner travelled from Walvis Bay on 2 June to Mariental and is understood to have come into contact with his fellow learners before classes were suspended at the school.
