FOLLOWING a fourth confirmed coronavirus case in Namibia, health minister Kalumbi Shangula says Namibians should prepare to be confined to their homes and for shops to close as the country will soon tighten measures to avoid the further spread of the virus.
Shangula said this after a 19-year-old man who last week returned to Namibia from London tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Shangula said the man was screened on arrival at Hosea Kutako International Airport on 18 March but his temperature was normal. He was advised to self-quarantine, and the following day he picked up symptoms and went to a private doctor, where samples were taken and sent for testing, with results that were positive for the coronavirus received on Monday, Shangula reported.
He said the health ministry was unable to state how many people the patient had been in contact with since he went home from the airport, and he was quarantined only the following day after he presented symptoms to his private doctor.
He said the public would be informed once the ministry has done a full contact tracing.
This is the first case of a coronavirus infection in Namibia involving a Namibian.
Shangula could not give full details of the route the man took on his trip from London.
He said the health ministry’s objective was to avoid local transmission of the virus to protect Namibians.
“Namibians must prepare for inconveniences for the future which will be to help prevent local transmission to protect Namibians so that we do not reach a stage where we have local transmissions,” Shangula said.
He called on private doctors to assist the ministry in the fight against Covid-19, saying if they have a suspected case they should inform the ministry so that it can start with the tracing process.
He said the patient in isolation is in a stable condition.
– tuyeimo@namibian.com.na
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