Samuel Shinedima
ON the day the world celebrates Father’s Day, Walvis Bay mourned the fact that seven of the nine new cases registered were in the community of Kuisebmond.
The harbour town has now become the focal point where communal transmission has risen sharply, as well as a second incidence of cluster transmission of SARS-CoV2.
The second cluster transmission is attributed to a 26-year-old man registered as case number 35, where three of his family members all tested positive in the past 24 hours.
Dr. Kalumbi Shangula, Minister of Health and Social Services, in a statement announced that a two-year-old child from Kuisebmond is among the nine new cases of COVID-19 registered in Namibia since Saturday and said the sudden increase in the number is the result of an active case search being conducted in the harbour town.
People have been lining up at the Kuisebmond Community Hall since Saturday morning and again on Sunday morning to submit samples as part of the active case search being conducted in Walvis Bay that has now become the focal point of Namibia’s communal transmission spike.
Dr. Shangula expressed his surprise at the sudden spike in positive cases being registered in the harbour town that has been under hard lockdown since the proclamation of the State of Emergency.
He said it is the highest spike in cases recorded in the country since the pandemic was declared in Namibia on 14 March.
According to Dr. Shangula, case number 47 is a 28-year-old woman from Kuisebmond with no travel history, while case 48 is a two-year-old baby also from Kuisebmond, who both came into contact with case number 35.
Dr. Shangula further stated that case number 49 is a 33-year-old woman also from Kuisebmond, but with no identified contacts, while case number 50 is a 28-year-old woman who travelled from India via South Africa to Namibia and is in quarantine.
Case number 51 is a 36-year-old woman also from Kuisebmond, followed by case number 52, also a woman, who resides in the same neighbourhood.
A 56-years old man registered as case number 53, is also a contact of case number 35 while a 21-year-old man, also a contact of case number 35, was registered as case number 54.
The Minister indicated that case number 55 is a 65-years old woman from South African who resides in Namibia and travelled from South Africa on 18 June.
Like the woman from India, she was put in quarantine and was swabbed on the 19 June 2020 and the result came back on Saturday.
Dr. Shangula said the woman does not display symptoms and has no known contact to a confirmed case.
The health minister said all of the new cases are described as doing well clinically and are being managed while placed in isolation.
He said the nine new cases brought the number of active cases being managed to 36, while 293 active contacts are being monitored by health officials.
Despite the sharp spike in cases over the past 24 hours, Namibia still has not recorded any COVID-19 related deaths.
