BIUST response to Covid-19 pandemic
Correspondent | Monday April 13, 2020 10:05
BIUST aims to stimulate research, innovation and technology transfer, society’s aspirations to improve health, wealth and well-being, amongst others.
The mission of BIUST is to produce world-class research and innovation in science, engineering and technology, contribute to industry growth and development, and advancement of a diversified knowledge-based economy.
In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, BIUST has joined hands with the Government of Botswana in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 by undertaking the following projects:
1. Production of Sanitizers: The Production and provision of sanitizers to the community of Palapye and surrounding villages is project undertaken in collaboration with Morupule Coal Mine (MCM).The sanitizers are produced according to World Health Organisation (WHO) Standards and Botswana Bureau of Standards Specifications on Hand Sanitizers.
2. Designing of Sanitizer Dispensers: Sanitizer’s dispensers were designed and manufactured to be used in public areas such as, hospitals, clinics and kgotla.
3. Production of Soap: BIUST has partnered with the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) for provision of much needed production equipment to ensure sufficient production of the BIUST Bathing Soap and Liquid Soap for the national market. The bar soap was tested by Botswana Medical Regulatory Authority and it is safe for use for general bathing purpose.
4. Drone Projects: The aim of the project is to disinfect the air of open public spaces during the time of COVID-19 Pandemic. The air disinfection by drone is intended to work in collaboration with manual disinfection by humans that targets ground surfaces. Drone sprayer is developed by Simulation, Machine Learning and Techno-preneurship Laboratory (SMaRT Lab).
5. Development of Dashboard: Through a collaboration with iThemba LABS, and University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), a dashboard for visualizing COVID-19 pandemic in Botswana has been developed. It gives a detailed analysis of corona virus using maps, diagrams, graphs and pie chart.
6. Development of Botswana Covid19 E-Permit Application: This project is aimed at digitising the COVID-9 Permit application process. The law enforcement will have the ability through the application to verify the permits issued by scanning a barcode which would have been sent to the applicants upon approval of their applications.