A NAMIBIAN died of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom on Saturday.
Deputy
prime minister and minister of international relations and cooperation
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah announced this at the Covid-19 communication
centre in Windhoek yesterday.
The man has been identified as Abiud Vambetja Uazeua, who lives in Nottingham, United Kingdom (UK).
Uazeua died from Covid-19-related symptoms. He is survived by his wife, Consey Uazeua and eight children.
“Mrs
Uazeua and her children were with Mr Uazeua at the time of his passing.
Having learned of the death of Mr Uazeua, the high commission of
Namibia to the UK made contact with the family to confirm the details,”
Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
She added that due to the Covid-19 virus,
the body cannot be repatriated and funeral arrangements will be made
during the course of the week.
She said the man was considered a resident of the UK and has been employed there for years.
“Our
high commissioner yesterday was called by a journalist in Namibia and
had no information at the time. She investigated and later informed us a
Namibian man, who is now a permanent resident of the UK […] died of
Covid-19,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
She said the man’s family did not contact Namibia’s high commission in the UK.
“The whole family are residents of the UK; they work there now,” she said.
The
deputy prime minister said the repatriation of Namibians by Air Namibia
was halted due to technical challenges and issues with the funding of
flight tickets.
She said, Namibians in Europe who are ready to
come home, provided they are able to finance their own tickets, should
make their way to Frankfurt, in Germany.
She said an aircraft is due to return to Namibia next week.
Meanwhile, Namibia has reported five new Covid-19 cases since Thursday, bringing the country’s total cases to 21.
The
most recent case is that of a truck driver (47) who had allegedly
entered the Walvis Bay community from quarantine prior to receiving his
result.
The trucker arrived in Namibia on 8 May from South Africa
and was self-quarantined at the depot of his employer, FP du Toit
Transport.
He reportedly did not receive clear instructions on
the rules of quarantine and entered the community with a colleague,
breaching quarantine regulations.
Minister of health and social
services Kalumbi Shangula on Saturday said the two were apprehended by
the police, taken to a government quarantine facility and have
consequently been fired by their employer for contravening quarantine
regulations.
The minister said contact tracing is underway.
The four other recent cases also involve people who arrived in the country from South Africa, and were tested in quarantine.
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