COVID-19: Lockdown extended by a week
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Bagaetsho, it has been twenty four (24) days since we went into a national lockdown as a strategic measure to minimise and contain the risk of the spread and transmission of COVID-19 in Botswana. Since then, the majority of our citizens have complied with the health protocols of extreme social distancing and they have also restricted their movements by staying in their homes, which will contribute significantly to the containment of this pandemic.
At the commencement of the national lockdown, Botswana had imported cases of COVID-19 and no reports of locally transmitted cases. The most significant development driving the increase of new diagnosis of COVID-19 has been the occurrence of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases.
These are not ordinary times. Yet, history reminds us that this nation has navigated difficult waters before and did so by clinging firmly to the principles of prudence and macroeconomic stability. From independence in 1966, Botswana chose a path few resource-rich countries managed to sustain. Diamond revenues were not treated as windfalls for reckless expansion, but as capital to be managed with caution. The establishment of fiscal rules,...