U-turn on Romanian couple
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula has reversed his initial statement that the country’s first coronavirus patients - a Romanian couple - had recovered and were ready to return home.
He told Namibian Sun yesterday he made mistake and that the couple were in fact still ill.
He however repeated this ‘mistake’ whenever he gave updates on the coronavirus outbreak, and not once corrected himself.
“It was a mistake. I made a mistake. It was the Namibian couple that had recovered and not the Romanian couple,” he said yesterday.
Suspected fatality
The minister also confirmed they have posthumously tested a person who died at the Roman Catholic Hospital on Wednesday night, but was adamant the test will return negative for the coronavirus.
According to insiders, staff at the Roman Catholic Hospital as well as police officials were in disarray as there is seemingly no protocol on handling suspected coronavirus deaths.
The patient arrived with a high fever and uncontrollable cough, and died on arrival.
However, according to Shangula, this is not how the coronavirus kills people.
“This person was a patient for a long time and had a heart operation recently. Covid-19 does not kill so suddenly, it takes some time. I can tell you that test will come out negative,” he said.
Investigations underway
Earlier yesterday, the head of coronavirus case management, Dr Theo-Ben Kandetu, told journalists this death was being earnestly investigated as a potential virus fatality.
“The case you are referring to from Roman Catholic Hospital is still being investigated. The person was swabbed and the test will be run today. There is nothing to report at this stage, but the ministry does have a comprehensive set of procedures on disposing and the management of corpses. We apply these in state and have been doing so for years now,” he said.
Silver lining
Kandetu further said another person has now recovered, bringing the total recoveries to four.
Namibia now only has 12 active cases of the 16 confirmed cases.
The matron at the Roman Catholic Hospital, Bernadette Shipanga, asked that the report be put on hold.
Meanwhile, a nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity said they waited hours for the mortuary staff to arrive.
“They do not usually take this long. It seemed as if they were unwilling to come. Before that, the room was sealed off and we were instructed to wait for the morgue officials to come fetch the body, and to continue working,” she said.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
Health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula has reversed his initial statement that the country’s first coronavirus patients - a Romanian couple - had recovered and were ready to return home.
He told Namibian Sun yesterday he made mistake and that the couple were in fact still ill.
He however repeated this ‘mistake’ whenever he gave updates on the coronavirus outbreak, and not once corrected himself.
“It was a mistake. I made a mistake. It was the Namibian couple that had recovered and not the Romanian couple,” he said yesterday.
Suspected fatality
The minister also confirmed they have posthumously tested a person who died at the Roman Catholic Hospital on Wednesday night, but was adamant the test will return negative for the coronavirus.
According to insiders, staff at the Roman Catholic Hospital as well as police officials were in disarray as there is seemingly no protocol on handling suspected coronavirus deaths.
The patient arrived with a high fever and uncontrollable cough, and died on arrival.
However, according to Shangula, this is not how the coronavirus kills people.
“This person was a patient for a long time and had a heart operation recently. Covid-19 does not kill so suddenly, it takes some time. I can tell you that test will come out negative,” he said.
Investigations underway
Earlier yesterday, the head of coronavirus case management, Dr Theo-Ben Kandetu, told journalists this death was being earnestly investigated as a potential virus fatality.
“The case you are referring to from Roman Catholic Hospital is still being investigated. The person was swabbed and the test will be run today. There is nothing to report at this stage, but the ministry does have a comprehensive set of procedures on disposing and the management of corpses. We apply these in state and have been doing so for years now,” he said.
Silver lining
Kandetu further said another person has now recovered, bringing the total recoveries to four.
Namibia now only has 12 active cases of the 16 confirmed cases.
The matron at the Roman Catholic Hospital, Bernadette Shipanga, asked that the report be put on hold.
Meanwhile, a nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity said they waited hours for the mortuary staff to arrive.
“They do not usually take this long. It seemed as if they were unwilling to come. Before that, the room was sealed off and we were instructed to wait for the morgue officials to come fetch the body, and to continue working,” she said.
[email protected]
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