Gov’t imposes interzonal lockdown
Government announced an indefinite ban on interzonal movement yesterday evening, citing rising COVID-19 cases. Health and Wellness minister, Edwin Dikoloti said only essential services personnel will be allowed to apply for interzonal permits.
The move comes ahead of the Presidents’ Day Holiday, as Batswana enter the long weekend. Dikoloti said the decision was taken to preserve the lives of Batswana. He revealed that at the moment they are recording 800 Covid-19 cases per day. He said the health ministry is heavily burdened with COVID-19 cases, which gave rise to the interzonal lockdown with the hope of slowing down the spread of the virus.
“Our medical staff are also forced into isolation thereby reducing the workforce,” he said, adding only essential services workers will be allowed to travel between zones. Dikoloti said the number of cases will guide their decisions going forward as to when best to lift the ban.
“Batswana know that it is not the first time we face this, especially before the holidays. We should not find alternative routes to travel across zones. We should take responsibility and help save lives. We need [your] help Batswana to fight this disease together,” he appealed.
Dikoloti reiterated that the disease is transmitted through people’s movements, adding that since April they had minimised movement across zones. He encouraged people not to attempt to apply for permits because any kind of interzonal movement has been banned with all existing permits revoked.
He admitted that currently, they have a shortage of beds in both government and private hospitals. In turn, he said they had to convert some wards into isolation sickrooms, particularly at Princess Marina Hospital.
For his part, the coordinator of the Task Force team, Dr Kereng Masupu said by regional record, Greater Gaborone leads with high COVID-19 cases followed by Greater Palapye and Greater Francistown zones. He added that the COVID-19 variants, Alpha, Beta and now Delta, have shown that the virus has mutated to become even deadlier. He indicated that the entire tested specimen shows that Delta is now sitting at more than 60% transmission rate. He said now that the spread of the disease is faster than ever and as such every Motswana should take greater care.