Botswana - Covid-19 news: 2,252 cases; 10 deaths

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[Ronan Kelly]

Botswana records first death from coronavirus - vice president
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“The fourth case is a 79-year-old woman who arrived from South Africa on the 15th of March and died on the 25th,” Tsogwane said. (Reporting by Brian Benza Writing by Alexander Winning)
https://www.reuters.com/article/heal...-idUSL8N2BO7XC

[kiwibird]

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=85...=2020/april/05

While the country, just as the rest of the world is going all out to fight coronavirus, the most critical of the essential staff being health professionals find themselves on lockdown instead of the frontline.

Sources within the nursing sector told this publication many of them are home instead of at work as the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Botswana (NMCB) is reluctant to issue them practising licenses despite the plea from ministry officials and union leaders.

According to Botswana Nurses Union’s (BONU) vice president, Vusi Phela, nurses renewed licences late due to a change in the system that brought about confusion within the profession.

“The nurses ended up paying late and were told they would be penalised despite efforts to show that it was not deliberate. We spoke to Dr (Patrick) Masokwane to intervene as he had written to Botswana Health Professionals Council (BHPC) to have health workers renew their licenses without penalties, but he told us that the NMCB Registrar refused,” he said. Phela said nurses pay P50 per qualification and the penalty is P1,300. He said they have more than 200 nurses who had found themselves in the situation.

MmegiOnline has seen a memo from MOHW instructing BHPC registrar to waive penalties for health professionals who registered late in the effort to boost staff in the fight against coronavirus.

Botswana Land Board Local Authorities and Health Workers Union on April 1 wrote to government,

MoHW and Registrar NMCB stating that some nurses could not manage with renewal of their licenses only to be told the registrar was unavailable or the system was down. BLLAHWU secretary general Ketlhalefile Motshegwa also bemoaned in the letter that some District Health Management Teams (DHMT) sends such workers home and record them as absent from duty. He called on the authorities to facilitate assistance to concerned officers for renewal of licenses.
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On another sad note nurses are disconcerted after government failed to provide transport during the lockdown. Nurses believe arrangements could have been made as not all of them use or own cars to travel to work. Some nurses travel more than 50km to work and today they had to succumb to horror as some walked for quite significant distances to get to work due to unavailable public transport.

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=85...=2020/april/05

FRANCISTOWN: Tonota police have dismissed a circulating audio recording claiming an outbreak of coronavirus at a Zezuru homestead in Semotswane, near Tonota, saying it is false, misleading and malicious.

Tonota Police Station commander, superintendent Oteng Ngada told MmegiOnline today that, “We have seen and heard the audio and it’s just false. We are investigating the source that circulated that malicious audio, which has sent Semotswane and the rest of the country in a state of panic”.

Ngada was steadfast that as the police, they never attended any report pertaining to a family that chose to hide one of their own who allegedly died from a coronavirus-related ailment as the audio claimed.

Greater Francistown District Health Management Team (DHMT) co-coordinator, Rose Munyere confirmed to have listened to the audio, which has since gone viral on social media

“We have seen the audio as the DHMT and as we speak, it is subject to our investigations and our team is on the ground at Semotswane as we want to get to the bottom of the matter,” Munyere said, indicating that they have combed through Semotswane and other areas in the neighbourhood so as to leave no stone unturned.

Since the audio has implicated a lot more people, the Francistown DHMT has widened its net of investigations as the audio suggests a serious health scare in the coronavirus lockdown.

[Shiloh]

Source: https://allafrica.com/stories/202004060556.html

Botswana Registers Two More COVID-19 Cases
5 April 2020
Botswana Daily News (Gaborone)
By Malebogo Gaolebogwe

Gaborone — Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Lemogang Kwape, has announced that two more people have tested positive for corona virus. He told a press conference in Gaborone this afternoon that these were a 27-year-old man and his female companion, also aged 27...
...This brings to six, the number of people who tested positive for corona. One has already passed on while the remaining five are stable at Sir Ketumile Masire Training Hospital in Gaborone...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.voanews.com/science-heal...vid-19-contact

Botswana President, Cabinet Quarantined After COVID-19 Contact
By Mqondisi Dube
April 09, 2020 02:18 PM

GABORONE - A special Botswana parliamentary session called to discuss an extension of a state of emergency ended with all National Assembly members and the country’s president being quarantined. All had contact with an infected health worker...

...The 65-member National Assembly, where President Masisi’s ruling Botswana Democratic Party is in the majority, voted in favor of an extended period. The state of emergency, meant to fight COVID-19, will now last until October...


...all National Assembly members will be required to be quarantined for 14 days.

National Assembly Speaker Phandu Skelemani said health workers will determine if members are quarantined at home or moved to designated centers...


...Meanwhile, Botswana’s minister of health, Dr. Lemogang Kwape, told the National Assembly the country’s coronavirus cases now stand at 13...

Seven more cases were reported on Thursday, with one death recorded in the southern African country.

[kiwibird]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a9457806.html

All of Botswana's parliamentarians including president Mokgweetsi Masisi will be quarantined for 14 days and tested for the coronavirus, after a health worker screening politicians for the virus herself tested positive.

The health worker had checked the temperatures of some of the MPs on Wednesday during a special sitting of parliament, which was called to debate a proposal by Mr Masisi to extend a state of emergency to six months.

Lemogang Kwape, the Health Minister, told MPs on Thursday that the health worker had tested positive for Covid-19 overnight, one of seven new confirmed cases that brought the total in the southern African country to 13.

[Shiloh]

No new cases: https://news.thevoicebw.com/covid-19-12-04-2020-update/

[kiwibird]

https://allafrica.com/stories/202004140867.html

Botswana: 24 of Siviya COVID-19 Suspects Test Negative


Masunga — A total of 24 contacts of the COVID-19 Siviya patient have tested negative for COVID-19.

North East District Health Management Team (DHMT) coordinator, Ms Rodah Phindela stated that so far they had managed to trace 36 contacts of the 34-year-old man from Siviya village in the North East District.

Ms Phindela said they were awaiting results of the 12 remaining contacts who were still in quarantine. She added that most of the contacts were the patient's family members, some health workers, police officers and members of the community.

Tracing continues to establish all possible contacts; she said, adding that they were still investigating to find out if he had visited some other people in other locations out of Siviya.

[Shiloh]

15 cases: https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/afric...15/ar-BB12IIzh

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_th...t_75951441.htm

Botswana's COVID-19 cases rise to 20
Xinhua, April 19, 2020

GABORONE, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's Minister of Health and Wellness Lemogang Kwape on Sunday confirmed that COVID-19 cases in the southern African country have risen to 20 as five more have been confirmed.

In a routine COVID-19 update, Kwape said there was only one death despite an increase in confirmed cases.

"The registration of five new cases of COVID-19 has brought the total number of locally transmitted incidents to six from the previous three," said Kwape...

[Shiloh]

Botswana's president dismisses two senior officials in health ministry: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/bots...try-2020-04-22

[Shiloh]

Botswana's president, lawmakers out of quarantine after testing negative for coronavirus. It has reported 22 cases total...8 of local transmission... and 1 death: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-...or-coronavirus

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Source: https://www.journaldutchad.com/botsw...res-en-hausse/

Botswana / Covid-19: Community transmissions on the rise
Posted on April 23, 2020 at 7:18 p.m. by APA

Botswana health officials have warned the public to reduce unnecessary movement at a time when the number of cases from community-based transmission of coronavirus is increasing. According to the Coordinator of the Presidential Covid-19 Task Force, Kereng Masupu, the country recorded two new cases of people who tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 22.

“Both are cases of local transmissions from the village of Metsimotlhabe (about 10 kilometers from the capital Gaborone). This brings the total number of local transmission cases to eight, "Masupu told reporters.

"The disease is now with us and is spreading," he warned, urging people to stay at home and avoid contact with many people.

"Prevention is the only option for us because this disease has no cure," he said.

[Shiloh]

Lockdown extended a week: https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=8...=2020/april/27