22 students, 1 teacher test positive
This week Botswana saw a surge in positive cases of the Covis-19 pandemic as the virus has started to spread into schools.
Schools that have been exposed to the virus include Botswana Open University, (BOU), Masa Primary School, Bonnington Junior Secondary School, and Terence Private School, all in Greater Gaborone Zone.
Regarding the outbreak in Mogoditshane, Coordinator of the Presidential Covid-19 Task Force, Dr. Kereng Masupu informed the nation on Tuesday that a patient who was seen at Bokamoso private Hospital tested positive for the virus.
Masupu said contract tracing has so far identified 11 people who have also tested positive for the virus in Mogoditshane.
Ten of those who tested positive are said to be students, while the 11th one is a contact of one of the students.
However, by Wednesday, the number had doubled as 22 learners, including a teacher at Terence English Medium School in Mogoditshane had tested positive for the virus.
Still in the Greater Gaborone zone, two more confirmed cases of the virus were confirmed in the village of Oodi.
The case involves a couple after the husband is said to have transported goods from a neighboring country, but upon entry into Botswana, did not enter the mandatory quarantine as required by the Covid-19 regulations.
Two more cases were registered in the Greater Gaborone zone, one being a villager in Good Hope who had reportedly crossed into the country illegally while the other one is a Motswana man with no travel history.
The patient tested positive at Gaborone Private Hospital and his contacts have been placed under quarantine.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Deputy Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force, Professor Mesepele Moselepe said the number of positive cases have doubled in a two-weeks period, from 70 140 cases.
Currently there are 75 active cases in the country with 63 recoveries and two deaths.
Meanwhile, the virus has also found its way into the army barracks after the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) registered a positive case.
BDF Director of Protocols and Public Affairs, Colonel Tebo Dikole confirmed that on the 27th July 2020, BDF was informed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness that one of its civilian personnel employee stationed at Glen Valley Barracks has tested positive for COVID-19.
Dikole said It is worth noting that in matters of COVID-19 the lead department is the Ministry of Health & Wellness.
“It is against this background that the District Health Management Team (DHMT) for Greater Gaborone Zone in collaboration with Botswana Defence Force Corps of Health Services (CHS) has instituted the necessary protocols of contact tracing and fumigation of the relevant place of work which is currently underway,” Dikole said in response to The Voice inquiries.
