Khomas region continues to record a spike in COVID-19 cases, a position which the Ministry of Health says is concerning.
Cases in the Khomas region, specifically Windhoek, have gone up from 5 new cases at the beginning of the week to 39 on Tuesday, 66 on Wednesday to 140 out of the 184 cases recorded nationally according to the latest figures released on Friday, from 3 108 results in the last 24-hour reporting cycle, which represents 5.9% positivity ratio.
Erongo and IIKharas region recorded 14 and 13 new cases each according to latest figures from the Ministry of Health.
“Any increase is very worrying and is of concern to us. The epidemiological curve is showing an upsurge in cases and this was the case when we had the third wave,” Health Ministry Executive Director Ben Nangombe said.
Quizzed if the country was now faced with a fourth wave, Nangombe said, “I don’t want to name waves, but we are recording a steep rise in the epidemiological curve. If you look at the trends, we are seeing a surge in cases.”
Asked if the Ministry had concluded its test on whether the Omicron variant was now present in the country, Nangombe said, “We are expecting the results from lab likely today (Friday) and we will make the announcement as soon as we receive them.”
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday announced that the country was being hit by a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant which has been detected in seven of the country’s nine provinces.
Omicron, which has raised global fears of a surge in infections, was first detected in southern Africa last month and has prompted governments across continents to impose travel curbs and take other measures to contain it.
Omicron has been listed as a “variant of concern” by the WHO and scientists are still gathering data to establish how contagious Omicron is, and the severity of the illness it causes.
COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the Namibian economy, with the country’s real GDP contracting by 8.5% in 2020, with the worst-hit sector hotels and restaurants shrinking by 31.2%.
Namibia’s tourism sector had anticipated the continued removal of travel restrictions globally to aid its recovery after having been hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak with total tourist arrivals via airports during 2020 declining drastically by 81.9% compared to a decline of 8.6 percent registered in 2019.
Namibia’s economy is forecasted to recover gradually during 2021 by 1.4% then improve to a 3,4% growth rate in 2022.
