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As it intensifies its fight against the spread of Covid-19, North West Province is now extending imposed quarantine to all people who have come into contact with those testing positive for the virus.
Anyone who insists on self-isolation will have to get their doctor to facilitate an approval from the provincial health MEC. If this is granted, the medical practitioner requesting the isolation will be held responsible for ensuring that the individual observes the basic rules, like staying at home at all times.
North West health MEC and provincial Covid-19 task team convener, Madoda Sambatha, said all those who had interacted with people testing positive would no longer be screened and released if they were found to be negative, but automatically placed in a government quarantine facility and monitored for 14 days. After that, they would be tested for the virus and only released if they were negative.
The department said it would identify guest lodges in the province’s four districts which could be used to accommodate those under monitored quarantine.
“We have about 99 candidates for monitored quarantine in Bojanala district alone, including both infected ones and those with whom they’ve been in contact. In normal circumstances, they would be instructed to self-isolate, but because that isn’t working, we’re now including them in our 14-day government quarantine so that we can be sure that those we release back into society aren’t carrying the virus.”
The decision has been made because of the numbers of people who undertake to self-isolate, but fail to do so correctly.
Sambatha cited a recent case where someone who was supposed to be in self-isolation in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District was traced to the Free State. She was now one of those placed in a government-monitored quarantine facility.
“The family argued that the best place to keep her was on their farm, but we couldn’t take any more chances, [especially since] they had already taken her to the Free State without informing us,” Sambatha said.
The province last week also dealt with three additional cases where people who were supposed to be in self-isolation were traced to other towns. One of them had travelled to a neighbouring province.
Tracing Covid-19 patients and their contacts
North West is bolstering its tracing teams to embark on a mass screening and testing operation across the region from tomorrow [Monday].
Sambatha said the province had a “working agreement with the Red Cross to provide 300 tracers” to help locate people who had had physical interaction with those testing positive.
“We have our own tracers as the department. We’ve also had offers from telecoms companies to assist us. They’re donating cellphones to trackers and helping us track people we’re looking for,” he said.
“This is where human rights activist groups have a problem,” Sambatha added. “We’re getting people’s cellphone numbers, but are doing nothing beyond that to find them. Once we have their numbers, those people are contacted, visited and the reason for the visit explained.”
In terms of the latest decision, if these people have had physical contact with an infected individual, they will automatically be ordered to enter a government-monitored quarantine facility.
The province was this week put on the spot after the Botswana government announced that a 78-year-old woman who tested positive for Covid-19 had attended a funeral in Motswedi, near Zeerust. The woman died in a Botswana health facility 10 days after returning home and was buried last Saturday.
This had led to anxiety among the community. As a result, health workers went to Motswedi this week and used loudhailers to urge people who had attended the same funeral to come forward for screening.
Recall of manpower, mass screening and testing
“We’re receiving five mobile testing units on Sunday. They’ll be used in our four districts and at our provincial office. We’ll also be dispatching one of them to Motsweding to do screening and testing of those who might have been in contact with the Botswana citizen,” said Sambatha.
In addition, based on the president’s recent statement on the roll-out of large-scale screening, testing, contact tracing and mobile testing, as well as health minister Zweli Mkhize’s instructions, student nurses will be recalled from their recess to work with other professionals in the field. In a statement, the province’s health department announced that it would also recall 6 000 community healthcare for this purpose.
“Around 10 000 field workers will be visiting homes in villages, towns and cities to screen residents for Covid-19 symptoms. People with symptoms will be referred to local clinics or mobile clinics for testing,” the statement read.
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