New variants behind COVID-19 fifth wave
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday June 21, 2022 06:00
As a result, the said areas are currently classified as Red, meaning that they have recorded more than 200 infections per every 100,000 people “generally caused by new variants”.
Ministry of Health chief public relations officer, Dr Christopher Nyanga told The Monitor on Friday that the surge in cases is driven by Omicron variant mainly through its two sub-lineages of BA.4 and BA.5.
“It is true that Botswana is currently experiencing a surge in COVID-19 infections as a result of the fifth wave, which the country has now entered. COVID-19 surges are generally caused by new variants that emerge over time,” he said.
“The current surge, commonly known as the fifth wave, is being experienced in Botswana, elsewhere in the region, and abroad, caused by the Omicron variant mainly through its two sub-lineages of BA.4 and BA.5.”
Nyanga added that although there has been an increase in the number of people requiring hospitalisation, this rise has been relatively low and has so far not overwhelmed any of their health facilities. Further, he pointed out that mortality has also been relatively low.
He said the Health ministry is currently conducting an aggressive public education campaign across the country to encourage unvaccinated Batswana to get vaccinated and those who are due for booster shots that have not yet taken their boosters, to do so.
In addition, he explained that through District Health Management Teams (DHMT), the ministry also has ongoing vaccination campaigns targeting places where more people are likely to visit like shopping centres and other public areas.
Nyanga said the ministry anticipates that cases will continue to go up in the coming days because it does not look like Botswana has achieved its peak yet.
He revealed that they anticipate that in the next few weeks, the country may have achieved its peak and the infection figures may start going down.
Still on the matter, the Botswana Doctors Union (BDU) secretary-general, Charles Muleya said COVID-19 never left and the Sars-Cov-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has continued to remain active in communities.
He said they have noted that other symptoms are being experienced other than the classical flu-like ones by those who have COVID-19, for example, loss of taste, loss of smell, nausea, loss of voice, and fatigue.
“It is important to note that COVID-19 can present with just a single symptom, for example, loss of taste or headache, so we need to increase our level of suspicion to control the spread of Sars-Cov-2 in our community,” Muleya said.
“BDU encourages all who think they may have COVID-19 to please test at their nearest centre. We need everyone who has COVID-19 to isolate as soon as possible, to curb the spread of the virus, and protect our loved ones from the mortality and morbidity that COVID-19 causes.”