Africa-Press – Lesotho. In order to speed up Covid-19 testing process, the National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) together with the government of Lesotho has implemented an antigen
testing strategy that gives out results within 15 minutes. NACOSEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ’Malitaba Litaba explained that the rate at which numbers of Covid-19 positive cases keep increasing indicates that the situation
is getting bad daily hence the enforcement of the lockdown. Litaba emphasized that implementation of the lockdown was so that they can trace cases quickly.
She said Lesotho cannot afford to treat its Covid-19 patients because the treatment is very expensive. She noted that running the tests and buying oxygen
is too expensive on its own. Litaba said among the other strategies, NACOSEC has come up with measures to speed up Covid-19 tests by introducing and implementing the rapid antigen test which provides
results within 15 to 30 minutes and does not require laboratories or big machines to operate. She said this development will allow them to quickly know
the results, to make quick arrangements for treatment in case someone has tested positive. She said for this process to be successful, they have introduced
Public Health Teams that will go around villages to test people. The CEO said the testing process has already started and about 300 people have already tested in some villages of Maseru district while the other districts
will follow. She explained that these teams are going to do contact tracing in villages of positive suspects. She said when infection rate increases, even the
fatality rate increases. “This virus seems to be taking lives of many people especially those with chronic illnesses such as heart diseases, sugar diabetes
and the likes,” she said. Litaba added that when many people get infected, those with chronic diseases are at a higher risk of infection and death. She said the percentage of infections is
between 30% and 50% following Christmas holidays saying by the time they advised the government to enforce a lockdown, positivity rate was between 50%
and 53%. She also communicated their intention to lower the infection rate to at least 5%. NACOSEC CEO further said even though the virus takes from the economy of the country,
ignoring it will only take the very people who contribute towards boosting the economy. “And it will end up killing even those people who contribute to the
growth of the same economy,” she said. She further said the virus seems to be spreading faster in Lesotho like in the neighbouring country – South Africa
(SA). Litaba said this is not surprising because over 1 000 Basotho came into a
country using borders during Christmas holidays. NACOSEC Chief Legal Officer Advocate Tlotliso Polaki said it is everyone’s responsibility to abide by the Covid-19 regulations because these measures are
not a punishment, rather intended to save people’s lives. Polaki urged Basotho to avoid walking in public during the lockdown unless it is necessary. “When
people are urged to stay at home and many places closed up, it is because we are trying to protect everyone,” she said. Also, she said they will run a public awareness campaign to educate the nation about how they should take care of themselves during this time.
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