Niël Terblanché
THE number of new COVID-19 cases in Namibia is on a steady downward curve despite some spikes over the past few weeks.
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula, said Namibians should take courage from the consistent downward curve in new cases.
“Our highest number, 316, was recorded on the 23rd of August and this should really motivate us to abide by the preventative measures as advised. The curve looks encouraging as we have observed a consistent downward trend in the number of daily confirmed cases since then,” he said.
The health minister announced that the country only recorded 125 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours and added that 20 people were declared recovered.
With regard to the new recoveries, he said that eight are for the Hardap Region, seven from the Khomas Region, and five from the Karas region. Those people that were admitted to health facilities were discharged and allowed to go home.
Dr. Shangula said that Windhoek still has the majority of new cases as 81 were registered in the capital, seven each in Walvis Bay, Keetmanshoop, and Rehoboth, four each in Omaruru, Mariental, Okahandja, and Otjiwarongo, three in Gobabis, two in Swakopmund and one new case was registered in Rundu.
The gender distribution of the new cases is 66 males and 59 females of which the youngest is a ten-month-old baby and the oldest is a 90-year-old pensioner.
This brings the number of confirmed cases recorded since the start of the pandemic in March to 8 810. Out of that total 8 719 cases are the result of local transmission while only 91 cases or one percent were registered as imported.
“Namibia has reported imported cases during the first four months of the outbreak. The low number of imported cases is attributed to the border closing intervention. We still need to enhance various prevention measures and engage our communities to contain the local transmission from high burden urban areas such as Windhoek, towards remote areas, where pensioners predominantly reside,” he said.
According to Dr. Shangula, the number of severe and critical patients increased to 21 again and that the patients are in high and intensive care in Hospitals in the Khomas and Erongo regions. Nine are severe and 12 are in a critical condition.
The health minister also announced the COVID-19 related deaths of two patients. One is a 61-year-old man from Swakopmund and the second fatality is that of a 58-year-old man from Windhoek. Both patients had known co-morbidities and passed away while admitted to hospitals.
