9th April 2020
Own Correspondent
Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) has launched an up to the minute data analysis tool dedicated to capturing and analyzing the demographic spread of the novel corona virus in Botswana as it happens.
Through partnerships with South Africa’s iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences (iThemba LABS) and the School of Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), staff from the Departments of Physics and Astronomy at BIUST have developed the dashboard for visualizing data for the COVID-19 pandemic in Botswana.
A dashboard is a reliable tool for experts and information diggers alike as it shows, using maps, diagrams, graphs, and pie chart, the unfolding Corona virus picture in Botswana since the date of the first case. Among others the dashboard gives detailed analysis of all cases of quarantined persons in the country, breaking down the numbers by towns and dates.
The latest dashboard for instance shows that Gaborone is leading with cases of quarantined persons, 894, with Francistown at 449, Palaye 227, Chobe 129, Boteti 127, Lobatse and Hoodhope 76.
The dashboard further shows that in all some 2081 persons are on quarantine in Botswana, and a further 291 in home isolation, between March 30 and April 8.
According to Prof Hillhouse, the latest innovation emerged thanks to collaborative links between BIUST, iThemba LABS, and Wits University, through official Memorandums of Understanding, in the areas of nuclear science, particle physics, and material science.
“These linkages in the areas of data analysis naturally form the backdrop for extending our collaborations with Wits University and iThemba LABS on visualizing and monitoring the progression of the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Africa, which led to the creation of a dashboard for the Republic of Botswana.”
