Nam surpasses India as infections soar

JEMIMA BEUKES WINDHOEKNamibia is buckling under the heavy weight of daily Covid-19 cases and deaths, which have now surpassed those of India, the world’s epicentre. The country recorded the highest number of new cases in the world.According to the Reuters Covid-19 tracker, Namibia recorded 255 new infections per 100 000 people in the last seven days, compared to India’s 43 infections per 100 000 people in this period.India, which has seen the most horrendous face of Covid-19, is now at 22% of its peak, with infections decreasing.Despite previously being hailed as a champion on the continent, Namibia is now at its peak and is facing a sharp rise in new cases.The country has recorded 65 815 infections and 1 008 Covid-19 deaths, while only 14 956 people have been vaccinated.At the current rate of the vaccination roll-out, which stands at 1 875 doses per day, it will take the country at least 267 days to administer enough doses to vaccinate 10% of the population. This is still a far cry from the average 60% required to achieve herd immunity. Where did the money go?Several health experts believe the reason for this drastic turn-around is because government is failing to treat Covid-19 like the emergency it is and instead is pretending it is business as usual.Meanwhile, questions have been raised about how the N$8.1 billion Covid-19 relief fund was spent, with the ministry suffering immensely under a lack of oxygen, staff, equipment and testing capacity.The Covid-19 accountability report has not yet been tabled in Parliament, despite several promises from health minster Dr Kalumbi Shangula.Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani has repeatedly asked for a breakdown of these figures, with no success.“Well, we see money not well spent, if you calculate the numbers of patients who are going through hospitalisation and cost it with budget, it will reveal a massive cost of money missing. We need to request for an audit of funds spent,” he said.Questions sent to Shangula about the relief fund remained unanswered. Different strainsDr Steven Hong, clinical branch chief for the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the third wave is fuelled by a variety of different strains. “Namibia has different strains of the Covid-19 virus circulating. We are learning that some of these strains seem to be more transmittable. If the virus is passing through communities faster, it means that it may reach people who are vulnerable quicker. People at higher risk of developing severe illness are those who have an underlying health condition, pregnant women, and older people. When these people are infected, they develop more serious illness and are at risk of dying,” he said.Hong added that the country’s healthcare system is under severe strain, both in the private and the public sector, creating a difficult situation for the nation.“We have increased number of cases every day. Our hospitals are full. Our healthcare workers are strained and are working tirelessly. We are seeing our family members and friends die every day. We can all take responsibility to help stop the spread of infection. We all need to do our part to turn this around. We can all make good choices to take actions that will stop the spread of the virus,” Hong said.Only overwhelmedShangula denied the presence of variants of the virus, saying the only other variant in the country apart from the original is the South African variant. “We are doing genome sequencing in the laboratories. There is suspicion of other variants, but we have not received such confirmation from the laboratories. There is no evidence to support that,” he said.He also dismissed concerns about the increasing number of new cases and the drastic reduction in recovery rate, saying it is a simple ‘mathematical calculation’.Shangula dismissed reports that the country’s health system is facing collapse, despite hospitals being full and turning patients away.“When you say collapse, it means there are not doctors, there are no more nurses, there is no more medicine, there is no more equipment and no more hospitals, so to say. The proper characterisation is to say the health system is overwhelmed by patients who need hospitalising,” he said.Meanwhile, hospitals continue to turn away sick patients because there no beds are available, while others opt to acquire their own oxygen supplies because hospitals countrywide face shortages. jemima@namibiansun.com

Nam surpasses India as infections soar

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-18

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Nam surpasses India as infections soar

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-18

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