Rundu takes corona lightly

Kenya Kambowe

RUNDU



Residents and some business owners at Rundu are seemingly not taking the necessary precautionary measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Earlier this week, Namibian Sun spent the morning walking from shop to shop in malls and observed that residents have taken government's state of emergency call lightly.

Despite government's directive to limit shoppers entering at the same time, some shops such as OK Foods allowed 100 people in at once. Meanwhile, supermarkets such as Pick n Pay, Woermann Brock and Shoprite only allowed 20 shoppers or less at a time. When approached for comment, Rundu OK Foods owner Jose Machado said he is not defying any law by allowing 100 people into his shop at once.

Machado said the decision follows his assessment on the size of his shop, which still allowed social distancing.



Only for social gatherings

He claimed that President Hage Geingob's call to limit gatherings to less than 50 people only applied to social gatherings.

“We are not breaking the law, as we assessed the situation and we decided to allow only 100 people in at once. After the 100 people are out, the next 100 come in,” Machado said. Customers' hands and trolleys are sanitised.



ATMs a risk

Also at Rundu, ATMs operated by hundreds of people have no guards equipped with hand sanitiser. Namibian Sun approached bank branch managers who said they deploy cleaners every three hours to sanitise the ATMs.

All banks have decided to only allow 10 people in at a time.

Despite a number of shops implementing measures, residents largely remain unconcerned about the pandemic, as they ignore floor markings which aid social distancing.

When contacted for comment, Rundu acting CEO Sam Nekaro said the town council will deliberate on actions to be taken against shops that do not apply measures to fight the coronavirus.

As per government's call, all shebeens and alcohol outlets at Rundu have been closed since Friday.