CHILD (6) AMONG 16 NEW COVID -19 PATIENTS

mfanukhona@times.co.sz

MBABANE – Disaster!  The Ministry of Health released shocking coronavirus (COVID-19) results last night whereby a six-year-old child was one of 16 others who tested positive for the virus that is sweeping across the globe with cruelty and speed.

This is the youngest patient that has tested positive for the coronavirus in the country. Prior, the youngest to get infected was a 14-year-old boy.
Lizzie Nkosi, the Minister of Health, reported that one person could have passed the virus to four people who had contact with him.
Surprisingly, all the 16 confirmed cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in the country are from Manzini.

Notably, 10 females tested positive against six males. There are four cases of people in their 50s and three are in their 40s, with five in their 30s. Three of the 16 people who tested positive to Covid-19 are in their 20s. The last one is the infant aged six.

The minister of health mentioned that 150 results were received yesterday, out of which 134 tested negative. As it stands, the health minister said there were 56 cases of Covid-19 in Eswatini. “This is the biggest jump in new confirmed Covid-19 cases since the first case was confirmed in the country,” the minister noted.

She said four of the 16 cases were contacts of the same confirmed ones. Nkosi said the increase in confirmed cases indicated that local transmission was becoming prevalent in the country.

She advised the public to adhere to social distancing at all times, further exhorting people to wash hands with soap and running water or use hand sanitiser while always observing hand hygiene. He encouraged inhabitants to cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing, urging them to preferably use face masks.
The minister of health mentioned that all suspected cases of Covid-19 should wear a mask as advised by health practitioners and further isolate themselves from others.

Minister Nkosi pointed to the fact that a mask should be worn properly, covering the nose and mouth. She appealed to people to keep the masks in place until they were changed for fresh ones.
She stated that all patients who had been confirmed positive have a duty to ensure they were registered for care with the Covid-19 Case Management Team of the Ministry of Health. 

The politician then asked the public to cooperate with the Rapid Response Teams as they went about their duties finding contacts of positive cases.
She thanked all healthcare workers who had and continue to work diligently, seeking and treating all who were affected , thus shaping the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
 
TWO LUBOMBO REFERRAL NURSES POSITIVE
Is the Lubombo Referral Hospital now a focal point for the outbreak of the dreaded coronavirus?
Of course, government selected the hospital to be a quarantine centre for patients infected with the virus that causes Covid-19. However, the nurses who treat these patients there have been infected as well.

Two of these nurses are now being treated for coronavirus. A driver who provided them with transport has joined them in the treatment room.
It must be said that there are two doctors who tested positive to coronavirus in Eswatini – one from RFM hospital in Manzini and the other was based at Mbabane Clinic.
The two nurses who were infected at Lubombo Referral Hospital are an addition to the nurse who also tested positive to the virus at the RFM hospital, who happened to be a relative to the man who died due to coronavirus related issues.
Bheki Mamba, the President of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), said inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) exposed the nurses and the health worker to coronavirus. He said they were aware that the nurses who contracted the disease were posted to Lubombo Referral Hospital. He said they would not have contracted the virus the way they did if they had been supplied with the PPE.
Mamba said people would no longer go to hospital to avoid getting infected.  “People will now be scared of health practitioners,” he said. He called upon government to do everything in its power to get the PPE.

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