Africa-Press – Lesotho. MASERU – The 180 tests conducted for Coronavirus (Covid-19) between 5th and 9th May have all tested negative, leaving Lesotho as the only African county without
the deadly virus. According to a press statement from the Ministry of Health (MoH) the samples were shipped to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa (SA) for testing.
This brings Lesotho to a total of 216 negative results for all cases in the country, since the declaration of Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile on Monday the Minister of Health Hon.
Nkaku Kabi announced the results of 48 suspected cases after samples were tested in SA. Kabi said one of the 48 suspects had been in contact with a South African national throughout
the month of April who later tested positive of Covid-19 upon arrival in SA, however the local person tested negative even after being re-tested. “This
simply says we must follow up on cases such as these ones as they keep coming up. This means there is also need to undertake research so as to establish
exactly what is going on in this regard,” he stated. MoH has vowed to continue carrying out active case finding through vigilant screening and testing all the suspected cases at all designated points of
entry, at the health facilities and in the communities as well as monitoring of those on home quarantine. The National Emergency Command Centre (NECC) on Monday also announced that 93 South
African workers from one of the construction companies under the second phase of Polihali dam in Mokhotlong were repatriated after they returned back to work without authorization.
The NECC reported that these people entered the country via Butha-Buthe border and were found following a tip off from Basotho staying at the multi-million water project at Polihali
camps. “The incident compelled the Mokhotlong authorities to send them back to South Africa,” NECC statement noted. However 12 of these people had work
permits and were therefore placed in quarantine facilities and not sent back. The District Administrator (DA) Mokhotlong Serame Linake was quoted saying “Even though we value the relations
between Lesotho and SA, we cannot risk the lives of fellow Basotho, we have immediately send them back home and the remaining 12 with work permits will be
under 14 days quarantine. . NECC also stated that until now there is no unusual behavior in different hospitals that are likely to arouse the interest of
health professionals with regard to Covid-19 issues. NECC further noted that health professionals currently placed in different parts of the country will work
together with security forces in a bid to be proactive against the pandemic thereby taking rapid tests among others. “It is anticipated that the country will also start taking Covid-19 tests at the National Reference Laboratories (NRL) Maseru from next week,” NECC mentioned.
