Namibia has removed of all Covid-19 restrictions imposed as part of national response measures to reduce the spread of the infectious disease, President Hage Geingob announced on Friday.
“I am the first to admit that our country traversed a difficult 26 months as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. During that period, 4 060 precious lives have been lost and a cumulative number of 169 400 Namibians were infected by Covid-19. Moreover, this invisible enemy of Covid-19 necessitated lockdowns with far-reaching implications on our economy. Companies closed down, supply-chain disruptions affected business operations and many jobs were lost as a result. As a Government, through various relief measures, including a grant to more than 500 000 citizens, we endeavored to limit the economic scarring from Covid-19,” Geingob said.
“Together, we are now in the phase of building back our socio-economic infrastructure from the untold devastation of Covid-19. In light of the progress that we have made against Covid-19 in the past few months, I am pleased to inform you that we are now at a stage where we can significantly lower the scale of our investment in the fight against Covid-19.”
The President also announced that previous measures such as daily and updates provided by the Ministry of Health will also be discontinued.
“The Covid-19 Public Updates shall be discontinued (unless the situation necessitates such interventions). Daily Covid-19 update will be discontinued; the Public will be briefed weekly on the situation on Thursdays at the Government Information Centre by the Ministry of Health and Social Services,” he said.
Geingob, however, said foreign travellers will still be required to present Vaccination Certificates at Points of Entry.
“The trajectory of the Covid-19 here in Namibia and elsewhere in the world is changing. This means that our national response also has to be adjusted. This means shifting from containment of new infections to mitigation of the effects and impact of the pandemic. It means shifting from response to recovery, going forward. We must enter a new stage where the restoration of livelihoods and reconstruction of the economy take center-stage,” Health Minister, Kalumbi Shangula said.
He said the Ministry of Health and Social Services has put in place readiness mechanisms to detect and test for monkeypox infections locally.
“We are closely monitoring other disease outbreaks at home and abroad. These include the outbreaks of scabies, measles as well as monkeypox, which has been reported in several countries around the world. These include: capacity building of health workers and laboratory personnel in line with WHO guidelines, coordination of testing of samples from suspected cases, awareness creation among health workers on surveillance and case management. To date, no monkeypox case has been recorded in Namibia,” Shangula said.
