The police at Walvis Bay are investigating a Chinese couple on allegations they are selling Chinese medicine purportedly that prevents people from contracting Covid-19 at the coastal town.
Desperate residents in Kuisebmond were reportedly flocking to the shop to buy sachets of the medicine being sold for N$400.
The supposed Covid-19 medicine (tea) is packaged in plastic bags with Chinese instructions. One of the shop owners, Simon Yu, when questioned by the police in the presence of the Erongo governor, Neville Andre, Walvis Bay Urban constituency councillor Knowledge Ipinge and the chief medical officer Dr Amir Shaker, denied selling the tea.
‘’I only bought it for myself and my employees to boost their immune systems,” said Yu on Monday while police were searching one of his four shops.
He said he got the tea from his Chinese doctor who runs a clinic in Windhoek. However, Yu could not produce the paperwork that authorised him to sell any sort of medicine at his shops.
Police, however, found a sales register at one of the shops that showed that some of the medicinal tea was sold.
According to crime investigations coordinator for Erongo, the Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, the police raided all shops of the couple and their home in town and found 26 packages of the tea.
“The confiscated tea was sent to the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute to determine whether the tea contains any illegal/prohibited/harmful substance. The investigation will also establish whether the tea was imported into Namibia through the right procedures,” Iikuyu explained.
Governor appealed to residents not to be misled and not to buy any medicine on the black market and that they should rather consult registered doctors.
“We need to be vigilant. Thus I am appealing to residents who have bought the tea to contact the police and take the samples for further testing,” he said.
Contacted for comment, the Chinese Wellness Centre said they have 100 sachets in stock selling them for N$200 for each packet.
Shaker the chief medical officer of Erongo said there is no approved Covid-19 medicine and people should not buy such medicine on the streets.
-edeklerk@nepc.com.na