COVID-19: 207 EMASWATI TESTED, 32 CLEARED

MBABANE – The Ministry of Health will no longer be announcing suspected coronavirus cases.
The nation will only be informed on the results of tested suspected cases.

The move comes as a result of the surging number of suspected cases on a daily basis as revealed by Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi.
In an interview yesterday, the minister said they were handed results of 32 suspected cases which were taken to South Africa for testing last week Friday.
Nkosi said the total number of suspected cases that were submitted to SA for testing was 207 but only 32 were returned and they all tested negative.

Specimen

Coronavirus specimen is transported to SA for testing at Lancet South Africa and a focal person at Mbabane Government Hospital was identified who will liaise with local health facilities/laboratories and Lancet Laboratories.
“We had 207 samples submitted for testing and if I was informing the nation on every suspected case, then it means I would have been talking for the 207th time now.

“As a ministry, we have come to the conclusion that only the results of suspected cases will be announced, not the suspected cases because there are many that we take for testing,” she said.

Nkosi’s update on the country’s coronavirus status was that there was still one confirmed case as the 32 results came back negative but the ministry was still waiting for the other 175, including the confirmed case, which brings the number to 207.
She said these were results that were submitted last week Friday but there were some which were submitted for testing yesterday, also depicting a large number.

Queue

She said the reason the results of the remaining 175 did not come back was because there was a queue in SA where the samples were tested. Entry screening is being implemented in nine ports of entry around the country to identify travellers fitting the case definition.

Screening tools include international arrivals health forms, screening procedure and contact listing forms that have been updated to incorporate COVID-19.
 According to the Kingdom of Eswatini COVID-19 daily situation report, internal sensitisation on COVID-19 has been done for ports of entry stakeholders and rapid response teams are conducting follow-ups on travellers who have been to affected countries in the past14 days.

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