Covid hits police, LEC

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Covid hits police, LEC
Covid hits police, LEC

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Pitso Ground Police Station was shut down this week after it was hit by a Covid-19 outbreak, thepost heard this week. Three police officers tested positive to the killer virus, barely a week after two cops died of the disease.

The Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) is also battling a serious outbreak at its head office in Maseru. Police deputy spokesperson, Sub-inspector ’Mareabetsoe Mofoka, said the police station had only been closed temporarily to give them a chance to disinfect the place.

She said they will continue to provide services telephonically, urging the public to call at 22322099 or 27023035. “People are not expected to physically visit the station until further notice,” S/Insp Mofoka said.

The Covid-19 outbreak comes as the Lesotho Police Staff Association (Leposa) is bitterly complaining that the police had been sidelined despite that they are also in the forefront in fighting the pandemic.

Motlatsi Mofokeng, who was fired from the police recently, told thepost that “it is unfair that journalists have been vaccinated but the police have not”.

“It is not that we underrate journalists.

We respect them but we say it is unfair that journalists have received the second round of the vaccine but the police have been pushed to the periphery.

He said the police are expected to be everywhere around the country to combat crime and sometimes physically manhandle criminals who might resist arrest thus exposing themselves to Covid-19 infections.

S/Insp Mofoka appealed to Basotho to comply with the Covid restrictions. “People are not expected to be travelling between 10pm and 4am,” she said. “Even some bars or bottle stores are also open and operate during those curfew times,” she said.

She said last week they arrested 14 men for not abiding by the Covid-19 regulations. Meanwhile, on Monday the LEC said a number of their own staff members had contracted the Covid-19 virus.

The LEC spokesman, Makhetha Motšoari, said the company is struggling to contain the virus. “We have many Covid cases here,” Motšoari said. Because of the high infections, they have temporarily shut down their office in Butha-Buthe district.

“About nine people have contracted the virus in Butha-Buthe,” Motšoari said.

He said they also have some employees who are battling the disease at the LEC headquarters. “Some have taken leave in an abnormal way,” Motšoari said.

He said he could not disclose the number of the people who have been affected adding the statistics are staggering. He said the LEC had scaled down operations in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

Lesotho is in the grip of a third wave with hundreds of infections reported every day. On Monday, there were 19 new infections and yesterday there were 140 new cases with four fatalities.

There have been 12 398 infections and 339 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. Lesotho has administered at least 56 322 doses of Covid-19 vaccines so far.

During the last week, Lesotho averaged about 435 doses administered each day. At that rate, according to the Reuters Covid-19 tracker, it will take a further 978 days to administer enough doses for another 10 percent of the population.

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