Fifth wave of Covid- 19 possible

The Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Edwin Dikoloti says the continuous emergence of new variants of SARS- COV2 virus poses a serious threat to the future of this country and humanity in general. Although so far not as deadly as the Delta variant, Dr. Dikoloti says the Omicron variant has proved to be the most infectious and at the height of the fourth wave, had infected thousands within a short space of time both in Botswana and across the world.

“This calls for greater vigilance on our part as a country and people. In recent days, we have seen a new surge of infections in Asia and some parts of Europe. “We call upon Batswana to remain vigilant as we face this possibility of a fifth wave. I am fully aware that our infection figures have been going down dramatically to below 1 000 cases,” he said, warning however that this should not lull the public into complacency. He said instead, all should continue to follow health protocols and take up COVID- 19 vaccines as advised by healthcare workers. “It is only through these actions and efforts that we can eventually defeat this deadly disease,” he said when updating Parliament on the country’s COVID- 19 status. Preliminary research on the COVID- 19 pandemic indicates that the disease may evolve into an endemic stage. This means that the disease may stay for a longer time than anticipated.

The Minister pledged that the Ministry of Health and Wellness will continue to keep an eye on this disease and take the necessary steps to protect Batswana and all residents. Dr Dikoloti said, however, tremendous progress has been made to save the lives of Batswana and avert a possible humanitarian catastrophe arising from the devastating effects of this deadly pandemic, in line with President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s priority number one in the Reset Agenda.

“With more than 60 percent of our entire population having received at least first dose of COVID- 19 vaccination we remain one of the most vaccinated countries in the world and one of the four countries in Africa that met the World Health Organisation ( WHO) target of reaching 40 percent vaccination threshold by December 2021.

“We are well on course, to reach the new 70 percent target set by WHO for countries to have reached by mid- 2022. To safeguard the gains we have made, since 14 February 2022 we introduced scope of being fully vaccinated as the main requirement for entry into Botswana for purposes of smoothening international travel. “The definition of being fully vaccinated in Botswana no longer includes a booster dose,” Dr. Dikoloti said, adding that having completed the primary vaccine series is considered sufficient for one to be allowed entry without the need to present a negative PCR test result. He stated that only those who are partially vaccinated or are not vaccinated at all are required to produce PCR test result and further be required to undergo COVID– 19 testing at ports of entry. He said all the interventions put in place are meant to gradually ease COVID- 19 restrictions first introduced when the pandemic broke out and open up the economy, so that it slowly but surely revert to its pre- Covid performance rate. “We trust that Batswana will not interpret the ease in restriction to mean that COVID- 19 has now been totally defeated. The pandemic remains an existential threat to our lives and livelihoods. “We need to continue with the two tried and tested approaches for fighting this pandemic as advised by the healthcare workers. These two approaches are the pharmaceutical approach represented by the COVID- 19 vaccines and the non- pharmaceutical approach represented by COVID- 19 protocols,” the Minister said.