COVID-19 strikes Francistown
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Thursday February 11, 2021 15:53
When giving the COVID-19 status update here ,Greater Francistown District Health Management Team acting coordinator, Dr Nkele Ndolumingu said their accumulative statistics of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic is 1600.
He said that they registered 105 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday alone.
He added that 227 people are currently in facility isolations at Ntshe Clinic and Matsiloje isolation centres.
He further said that 147 persons are also under home isolation, and all have met the requirements to be self-isolated.
Dr Ndolumingu added: “Once one has tested positive for Covid-19 they go straight to the isolation and if they are under critical conditions then they are taken to Ntshe Clinic and those who are not presenting signs of Covid-19 are taken to Matsiloje isolation centre.”
He also said those taken to Matsiloje isolation centre are then treated as clients and they are kept for 10 days and would be released on day 11.
He also stated that as of 4th to 9th February 2021 , they have registered 28 cases for the students, five for the teachers and three for the health workers who tested positive during the same period respectively.
Dr Ndolumingu urged the community to maintain adhering to the health protocols in order to defeat the invisible enemy (Covid-19).
He further said that since the Covid-19 pandemic they have encountered a lot of crisis from testing, contact tracing and isolation.
He added : “ As you know when we started, we had a few cases of Covid-19 leading to few occupying the isolation centres and then suddenly the cases escalated. For instance, in Matsiloje, we normally had 20 patients and all of a sudden they went up to 200 which was a big problem.”
He further said that they are trying their best to address the situation and improve the conditions of the facilities.
Dr Ndolumingu said that they have received countless reports from Matsiloje isolation centre and are working around the clock to address them.
He also shared that the delay on releasing Covid-19 resulted was caused by the PCR test method which took more time for the results to be released.
Therefore, he said that introduction of the rapid testing methods has made it easier and faster for the results to be released instantly.
The acting co-ordinator said that the rapid test is very effective as the results come out in front of the patient and takes only about 15 minutes.
He further said that they have trained many people to assist in testing for Covid-19.
He added that last week alone they tested close to 100 individuals to assist with swabbing and testing.
Dr Ndolumingo explained that people engaged as contact tracers often use their personal numbers to call for contact tracing but they should be able to identify themselves, if there is any doubt, people should enquire with the DHMT offices for further clarifications.
He also shared that people can also get tested for Covid-19 in the nearest clinics in town as they are equipped and trained for testing procedure.
He congratulated all the health workers and all those who are in the field for their services during the fight against Covid-19.