By: Hertha Ekandjo
Health ministry executive director Ben Nangombe says Covid-19 fifth wave will only hit Namibia, depending on people’s behaviour.
His comments come after South Africa has reportedly entered a fifth wave earlier than expected.
Namibia recorded 494 cases in the last seven days; the most cases the country has recorded since the end of the fourth wave.
“The fifth wave has arrived. Take care,” the South African genomics research centre headed by virologist Tulio de Oliveira, who became famous for spotting the Beta and Omicron variants, warned on Twitter.
“We are encouraging people to wear masks, especially when in close places, to prevent new infections from spreading. The wave is just an indication of the uptick in new infections,” said Nangombe.
According to Nangombe, the Covid-19 fifth wave currently in South Africa should raise a concern in Namibia.
“People must make sure that they protect themselves and their families at all times. Families should do anything necessary to prevent catching new infections by continuing to wear masks and avoiding unnecessary gatherings,” he told The Villager.
He further stated that if the situation demands restrictions to be tight, then it will be mandatory for people to wear masks.
Last year during the winter season, the Covid-19 third wave hit Namibia while it was unprepared, becoming the deadliest of the Covid-19 waves.
Last year, Namibia, which has a population of 2.5 million, reported the highest death rate in the world during the third wave.
According to the world data, 22 per million people died in Namibia per day during the Covid-19 third wave in June 2021.
During the third wave, Namibia experienced the Delta variant. The number of cases per day more than tripled, from an average of 507 cases per day to 1 798 cases per day.
Last December, President Hage Geingob said that the rate of Covid-19 infections due to the omicron variant had surged, ushering Namibia into the fourth covid-19 wave.
South Africa is officially Africa’s most affected country by Covid-19.
Last week it reported that it had entered a fifth Covid-19 wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past two weeks seemingly driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, health officials and scientists have said.
In early March, South Africa went 48 hours without a single Covid-19-related death, the first time this had happened since 2020.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, in early April, announced that all Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted.
At that time, Ramaphosa said the last wave of the disease resulted in more extraordinary transmission of the virus but fewer severe cases.
With less than 45 per cent of the adult population fully vaccinated out of a population of nearly 60 million, South Africa has recorded more than 3.7 million cases and some 100 350 deaths in accumulation.
