Niël Terblanché
ALTHOUGH a total of 187 new COVID-19 cases may sound as if numbers are declining, the fact that it came from a test batch of 928 samples means that the infection rate stands at 20 percent.
On Monday 190 new cases were registered but that number represented an infection rate of less than 10 percent of the sample batch that was tested by the various laboratories.
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula over the past two days also reported four fatalities ascribed to COVID-19.
According to the statistics provided by the health minister, 297 patients were declared healthy after their follow-up tests had negative results over the past two days.
He said the gender distribution of the 187 new cases registered on Tuesday is 94 men and 93 women of which the youngest patient is a two-year-old child and the oldest patient is an 80-year-old pensioner.
At 131, the Windhoek health district registered the vast majority of new cases followed by 18 in Oshakati, 11 in Karasburg, ten in Lüderitz, four in Usakos, three each in Swakopmund, Tsandi, Onandjokwe, and Engela, while one new case was registered at Oshikuku.
“We re-emphasize the importance of people observing COVID-19 prevention measures and regulations if we are to see an end to this COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Shangula said.
The health minister also stated that it is extremely worrisome that the number of severe and critical cases has risen sharply over the past week. He indicated that there are currently 20 patients in high care facilities because their clinical condition is severe while a total of eight people are receiving treatment in intensive care facilities because they are in critical condition.
The four fatalities that were reported over the past two days are that of a 59-year-old man from the Walvis Bay health district that passed away on Saturday, a 77-year-old man that passed away in a Windhoek hospital last Wednesday, a 60-year-old woman that passed away in a Windhoek hospital on Friday, and an 80-year-old man that passed away in a Windhoek hospital on Sunday.
The four fatalities over the past two days pushed the death toll in Namibia up to 164.
