By: Hertha Ekandjo
President Hage Geingob Friday made an important announcement to the effect that there will no more be Covid-19 restrictions, a decision which follows that of South Africa and which will likely bring positive changes to the economy.
The President said this at the Occasion Of the 45th Covid-19 public briefing on the National Response Measures on Friday afternoon in Windhoek.
“However, I still encourage voluntary compliance to public health and social measures. Good hand hygiene should become part of the new normal. The government will intensify the vaccination campaign. We believe vaccination is necessary to protect the nation against any outbreak of new variants of Covid-19,” said Geingob.
The President further said that foreign travellers must present vaccination certificates at points of entry, similar to the requirement for travellers to produce certificates of vaccination against Yellow Fever in some countries.
Moreover, he said that the control of Covid-19 will be carried out the same way as for Hepatitis E and that the Covid-19 public updates will be discontinued unless the situation necessitates such interventions.
According to him, daily Covid-19 updates will be discontinued.
At the same time, the public will be briefed weekly on the situation on Thursdays at the Government Information Centre by the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
“I sincerely commend those who were on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19, health workers and first responders, including our men and women in uniform who demonstrated commitment to protecting our country against this deadly enemy,” said Geingob.
According to Geingob, since the first index case of Covid-19 was detected on 13 March 2020 in Namibia, the country has been convening as the Namibian family to communicate and share measures of the Namibian Government to contain the deadly and invisible enemy of Covid-19.
Geingob emphasised that he was the first to admit that the country traversed a problematic 26 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, he said that 4 060 lives were lost during that period, 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,” expressed Geingob.
He added that there was no doubt that the physical and emotional toll of what we went through as a nation will remain a scar that will be felt for many years to come.
He further said that their ability to manage the infection rate is a testament to the hard work and dedication of their shared commitment across the public and private sectors to fight Covid-19.
“The Covid-19 pandemic was the biggest fight since our independence in 1990. This deadly virus tested our ability to remain united in the Namibian House. Indeed, we emerged bruised during the battle against this invisible and deadly enemy of Covid-19,” said the President.
