Namibia is set to launch digital COVID-19 certificates this month following close collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) and PanaBios.
The latest announcement comes after South Africa issued a notice informing travellers to be in possession of valid vaccination certificates or to present a negative PCR Test result obtained not later than 72 hours prior to travel.
“We have updated them on our situation and have requested for an interim relief,” Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula said.
MoHSS in collaboration with the African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), with technical support from the PanaBios Consortium, last November had implemented an online system to authenticate and verify travellers’ COVID-19 certificates.
Speaking to journalists at the 42 COVID-19 public briefing on Wednesday Kalumbi said people should get vaccinated and continue to observe public health and social measures in preparation for the winter period.
“When it gets cold, people tend to be close together and in closed settings. Under such conditions, the transmission of COVID-19 is enhanced,” he said.
Meanwhile, as at 12 April 2022, Namibia has recorded a total of 157 914 COVID- 19 cases out of the 992 038 samples tested.
Active cases have increased from 222 during the previous briefing to 296 current. Seven people have succumbed to the disease in the past few weeks, bringing the number of deaths to 4 021 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The number of deaths decreased from 19 deaths reported during the preceding 28 days to 7 deaths reported during the period of 25 days of this dispensation, a decline of 63.2 percent.
Moreover, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) has dropped from 4 to 0 cases by 12 April 2022.
Namibia’s vaccination rates still remain quite low with only 22 percent vaccinated, 48 percentage points short of the global target to vaccinate at least 70 percent of countries’ populations to make an impact on the pandemic.
By 10th April 2022, a total of 467 148 persons have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine nationally. Of these, 465 914 are persons aged 18 years and above, while 16 210 are children aged 12-17 years old. Thus collectively, 399 304 (22.4%) eligible persons are fully vaccinated countrywide.
Shangula stated that the average daily vaccination uptake keeps fluctuating but remains very low at 491 for the first dose, and 191 for the second dose per day.
All public health measures remain unchanged and are therefore extended, for a period of 30 days until 15 May 2022.
President Hage Geingob urged citizens to continue with the drive to increase vaccinations in order to achieve herd immunity.
He said this will not only limit severe illness and hospitalisations, but will also instill confidence in the economy, specifically the tourism and hospitality sectors which have been negatively affected by COVID-19.
