30th September 2021
Own Correspondent
With barely 20% of the population vaccinated, Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has ended his much maligned decision to declare a State of Emergency(SOE) to combat COVID-19 pandemic conceding there was an exponential rise in local transmissions and deaths during the third wave caused by over stretched health facilities such as shortage of oxygen, manpower, hospital beds etc.
He also conceded that other challenges included the unequal distribution of vaccines, which mainly affected our continent, thereby negatively impacting our national vaccine roll-out plan.
“In addition, the highly mutative nature of COVID-19 virus has led to variants which caused a lot 10 of confusion and fear and threatened to undermine global efforts to end the pandemic,” said Masisi in a televised address.
The experience of the disease management, and public health control measures such as hand washing, social distancing and face masking have proved to be effective in containing the disease.
“We have also learned that hand washing, social distancing and face masking remain key to the prevention of COVID-19,” said Masisi.
According to officials research pertaining to COVID-19 pandemic is being conducted in the country and of these, 6 are complete and 4 are COVID-19 vaccine related. These studies include areas such as the Impact of COVID-19 on the economy, education, psychosocial and socio-behavioural issues.
Government of Botswana is committed to ensuring that her population is fully vaccinated, in accordance with the Reset Agenda. Currently, over 22% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated, while over 26.7% have received their first dose.
“We have so far received five hundred and fifty six thousand six hundred and fifty one (556 651) 13 doses out of the one million nine thousand and nine hundred and seventy four (1,009,974) of vaccines expected between the months of September and October. This has enabled us to extend vaccine roll-out to cover those between the ages of thirty (30) and forty-four (44),” said Masisi.
He said, “We are therefore on track to achieve our vaccination target of 64 percent of the eligible population by the end of December 2021. This milestone will mark another achievement in the country’s effort to protect its citizens against COVID-19.”
With the end of the State of Public Emergency on 30th September 2021, at midnight, Government has adopted the following subsidiary legislation which is published in the Government Extraordinary Gazette and shall come into operation on 1st October 2021.
It is contained at Public Health (Notification of Disease) (COVID-19) Order 2021, published under Section 52 of Public Health Act, declaring COVID-19 a notifiable disease under Act and empowering the Director of Health Services to subject all persons entering Botswana to PCR testing, unless they carry a valid 72-hour negative PCR test result.
The Public Health (COVID-19 Control Measures) Regulations 2021, published under section 177 of the Public Health Act, also lay control measures which include compulsory face coverings, social distancing, hand hygiene, control of public gatherings, amongst others.
The Road Traffic Amendment Regulations, published under Section 130 of the Road Traffic Act, controls the number of passengers in public transport and allows the Controller to suspend applications for road transport permits to comply with Public Health Regulation.
Botswana National Sport Commission (COVID-19) (Sport Safety Standard) Regulations have also been developed to regulate sporting activities.
It has been one and half years since the Government declared the State of Public Emergency, with the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring the outbreak of COVID-19 as a global pandemic on the 11th March 2020. Government established the Presidential COVID-19 Task Force, to coordinate all national activities pertaining to the containment and control of the pandemic in Botswana.
Masisi has also defended his controversial decision to declare a state of public health emergency saying he was empowered to do so under the provisions of Section 17 of the Constitution of the Republic of Botswana, which empowers the President to declare a State of Public Emergency at any time.
The proclamation of a State of Public Emergency was approved by the National Assembly for a period of six months by the National Assembly and it was subsequently extended for a period of six months each on September 2020 and March 2021. The State of Public Emergency was declared
- To allow the country sufficient time and legal leverage in disease containment and control.
- To allow the Nation to mobilize resources timely to deal with the potential rise in the number of cases, and to have uninterrupted disease containment and control measures in place.
- To also allow Government to enact pieces of statutory instruments, which include, the control of the movement of people, limited number of people during social gatherings and the compulsory wearing of face masks for an extended period;
- Government regulated the operation of businesses, the closure of schools and liquor outlets, and suspended the use of public transport, extended period;
- Government closed some ports of entry into Botswana, suspended the issuance of visas to travellers, particularly, from high risk countries, as well as subjecting returning citizens and residents to a fourteen (14) day mandatory quarantine upon arrival in Botswana.
Government boasts amongst its successes in the post-SOE period of its adoption of COVID-19 Response Plan in April 2020 providing food hampers to targeted households, wage subsidies, health supplies, education and support to Batswana in diaspora.
It also says it assisted companies to secure loans from financial institutions by guaranteeing such loans. Government also established the COVID-19 Relief Fund and contributed seed capital amounting to Two Billion Pula with debates continuing about how prudently these resources were used.
Members of the public and the Private Sector also contributed to the Fund. In addition, Government received donations in the form of goods and services, food and water, fuel, protective clothing and equipment as well as psychosocial support, from the public.
Government adopted the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP) and says that during the State of Public Emergency it was able to restrict the movement of people and operations of businesses; capacitate public health facilities in an effort to reduce morbidity and mortality among those infected by prioritizing national resources to the health sector, including the procurement of vaccines.
Officials say Botswana has received five hundred and fifty six thousand six hundred and fifty one (556 651) 13 doses out of the one million nine thousand and nine hundred and seventy four (1,009,974) of vaccines expected between the months of September and October. This has enabled us to extend vaccine roll-out to cover those between the ages of thirty (30) and forty-four (44).
“We are therefore on track to achieve our vaccination target of 64 percent of the eligible population by the end of December 2021. This milestone will mark another achievement in the country’s effort to protect its citizens against COVID-19,” said Masisi.
