by ARLANA SHIKONGO and CHARMAINE NGATJIHEUE
FOUR pupils at a Swakopmund secondary school were yesterday morning tested for Covid-19 after displaying flu-like symptoms.
This
was announced in a statement by the Ministry of Health and Social
Services, in conjunction with the Ministry of Basic Education, Arts and
Culture, stating that the four male pupils who reside at the Namib High
School Hostel have since been placed in separate rooms in the hostel
while awaiting their results.
“We understand that learners, and
family of learners, attending this school will be concerned at this
time. As an immediate step, the imperative of caution had dictated that
no one will be
permitted to leave the hostel until the test results are known,” the statement said.
According
to the ministry, the pupils were tested as part of the targeted testing
initiative in which tests are conducted on all persons presented to a
health facility with symptoms consistent with Covid-19.
“The school in question will be maintaining communication with all families during this time.
“If
you have a concern about your child who is attending this school or
another school at Swakopmund or Walvis Bay, please contact your child’s
teacher or the contact person that you have been given to liaise with,”
the ministry instructed.
Any changes in school procedures will be communicated by the education ministry as soon as more information is available.
In
the meantime, the health ministry has said parents who wish to keep
their children away from school until more information is known are
entitled to do so.
Meanwhile, health minister Kalumbi Shangula
announced that Namibia had reported six new Covid-19 cases in a space of
two days, bringing Namibia’s total to 31 cases.
The two new
cases from yesterday are case 30, a 27-year-old female Namibian student,
who travelled from India by air via the OR Tambo International Airport,
South Africa, on 24 May 2020.
On 25 May she travelled by bus to
Namibia, with nine other passengers, after being dropped off at the
Nakop border post in South Africa.
Case 31 is a 50-year-old
Namibian woman, who was part of the India group. Similar to case 30, she
was swabbed on 6 June 2020 and results came out positive on 7 June
2020. Both their conditions are satisfactory.
Yesterday, Namibia reported two new positive Covid-19 cases, involving two women who returned to Namibia from India.
The other four cases were reported over the weekend.
Shangula
also told The Namibian yesterday that there is no new information on
whether case 26 from Walvis Bay is a local transmission.
This is
despite the fact that the 44-year-old man works at the hospital, where
case 22 is admitted and the minister maintained the two cases did not
come into contact.
“We do not have evidence to show that case 26
is a community transmission,” Shangula said, explaining “community
transmission means a number of cases arising in the community where one
is not able to identify who infected whom. So, it is having a lot of
cases at a bigger scale.”
He said there is no proof that case
22, involving a 63-year-old man, infected case 26 who works in the
finance department of the hospital.
