Namibia to test for coronavirus locally

JEMIMA BEUKES

The health ministry through the Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) has ordered reagents in order to conduct its own tests for the coronavirus, and should be the end of the week stop sending samples to South Africa.

This is according to health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula, who pointed out that the NIP laboratory already has the infrastructure in place, with only the reagents outstanding.

“The reagents will arrive probably during the course of this week and then we will be doing the tests locally,” he said.

Shangula pointed out that Namibia is taking all precautionary measures and the most likely place where the virus could potentially rear its head is at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, hence government’s decision to set up a military hospital at the airport.

“It is really the main entry point for international travellers. We have taken measures to contain the virus if it is introduced at the airport. We have scanners which measure very sensitively the fever levels of visitors. We also have an isolation point with four beds at the airport,” he said.

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