Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
TSUMKWE – Ju/’hoansi Traditional Authority (JTA) chief Tsamkxao !oma has implored his subjects to take the Covid-19 vaccines so that life can return to normality.
The Tsumkwe San traditional leader made this call during the launch of a community project funded by the Brazilian government in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) at Tsumkwe in the Otjozondjupa region recently. “Covid-19 is deadly, and we have seen the destruction it has caused. Our people are losing lives. Speedily, let us get vaccinated so that we can resume normality. People who say vaccine this, vaccine that, are lying. We can only defeat the virus if all of us are vaccinated,” the chief told his subjects.
He said he himself contracted the deadly virus and recovered, hence the call. “You all know that I was hospitalised at Grootfontein due to the virus. The virus is deadly! Go and get vaccinated,” he stressed. Meanwhile, the health ministry yesterday announced 186 new Covid-19 confirmed cases from 1 045 results in the last 24 hours, which represents an 18% positivity ratio.
A total of 90 cases, which constitute 48.4% of reported cases, are from the Oshana region, followed by the Ohangwena region with 20 cases, which constitute 10.8%. Among the confirmed cases are 30 learners and three teachers. None of the confirmed cases are vaccinated, the ministry said. The country now has 2 870 active cases, of which 235 are hospitalised, with 43 being in the intensive care unit (ICU). Twelve deaths were announced from eight districts. To date, the country has recorded 3 300 Covid-19 deaths.
By Monday this week, 190 306 people had received one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 83 629 had received two doses. “The responsibility for the prevention of the transmission of infections is everybody’s business. As the number of public gatherings has been adjusted upwards, it is the responsibility of event organisers to ensure that there is full compliance with the public health preventive measures,” the ministry said in its daily update statement.
“Service providers have the responsibility to protect their employees, clients and customers. When everybody protects everybody, then everybody will be protected from Covid-19,” read the statement.