Andrew Kathindi
Windhoek has officially overtaken Walvis Bay to become the local authority with the numerically highest confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.
This comes as Health Minister, Kalumbi Shangula on Thursday 3 September, announced 238 new cases, of which 145 are from Windhoek.
“Today, a total number of 1,630 results were received from the laboratories. Of these, 238 samples tested positive for COVID-19. One hundred and twenty-six (126) are males and hundred and twelve (112) are females. The youngest is two months old and the oldest is sixty-five years old,” said Shangula.
As of Wednesday 2 September, Windhoek had recorded 3,443 cases while Walvis Bay had 3,476. However, with the 145 cases announced on Thursday, Windhoek has surpassed the coastal town, taking the capital city’s tally to 3,588 confirmed cases. Walvis Bay currently has 3,485 confirmed cases, 103 cases less than Windhoek.
This comes as President Hage Geingob, last week, extended the stage 3 lockdown measures currently in place across the country’s 14 regions for an additional period of 14 days.
Travel restrictions placed on Windhoek also remain in place while the same restrictions that were previously on Walvis Bay have been lifted.
Concerns have been raised that the northern parts of the country could emerge as a possible COVID-19 hotbed, with hordes travelers leaving the Erongo region after President Hage Geingob lifted travel restrictions for the towns of Arandis, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.
The country’s northern regions have recorded over 60 cases in the last two days.
According to local media reports, country leader for Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Dr Eric Dziuban has previously warned residents of northern towns to be extra vigilant against the virus.
“If we act decisively now, the impact will be greater than if we wait until the numbers in the north are already spiking,” Dziuban was the quoted saying.
