SITREP 86


SITREP 86



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World Health
.
Organization
NAMIBIA
Ministry of Health and Social Services
Republic of Namibia
Outbreak Name
Date & Time of
this report
Prepared by
| COVID-19 outbreak
| 12.06.2020
21:35 hrs
Surveillance Team
Country affected
Investigation start
date
Namibia
13 March 2020
1.
SITUATION UPDATE / HIGHLIGHTS
¢ One new confirmed case was recorded today (12 June 2020)
e Cumulatively, 32 confirmed cases have been reported in the country.
© Of the 32 confirmed cases, seventeen 17 (53.1%) have recovered.
e Twenty-seven 27 (84.4%) of the confirmed cases are imported while 5 (15.6%) are
local transmissions.
© No death has been recorded, case fatality rate is 0%
e On 08 June 2020, His Excellency, The President of the Republic of Namibia
announced the extension of the Stage | restrictions imposed on the Walvis Bay
Local Authority Area to the entire Erongo region;
o Effective from midnight 08 June 2020 until mignight 22 June 2020.
e The other regions are still under Stage 3 of national lockdown which covers a period
of 28 days (01 June 2020 — 29 June 2020).
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2. BACKGROUND
Description of the cases
e Index cases: Two confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Windhoek
district on 13 March 2020. The married couple; a 35-year-old male and a 25-year-
old female, arrived from Madrid, Spain on 11 March 2020.
¢ On 12 June 2020, Namibia recorded a new COVID-19 case bringing the total
number of confirmed cases to 32.
o The case is a 31 years old female Namibian from Walvis Bay, Erongo
region.
co She has no history of travelling out of the country and no established contact
to a confirmed case. She presented at the health facility on the 11 June 2020,
with symptoms of loss of smell and cough which started on 03 June 2020.
3. EPIDEMIOLOGY
Since 14 March, 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak was declared in Namibia, a total of
32 cases have been confirmed. So far, four (4) regions have been affected, of which Khomas
region recorded the highest number of cases; 16 (50%), while Hardap region recorded the
least; 2 (6.3%), as per figure 1, below
:
Khomas
o
//{Karas
ks
Erongo
Region
..
Hardap
MTotal number of cases mActivecases mRecovered Death
Figure 1 Distribution of Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Namibia, by region as of 12 June
2020
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As presented in figure 2 below, Namibia recorded its cases of COVID-19 during
epidemiological weeks 11, 12,13, 14, 21, 22, 23 and 24 and most cases (7) were recorded during
epidemiological week 13.
0
a
10 41 12 13 #14 #15 16 17 18 #19 20 21 22 23 24
Epidemiological week, 2020
Figure 2: Epi-curve for confirmed COVID-19 cases in Namibia as of 12 June 2020
Of the 32 confirmed cases, more males; 21 (65.6%) are infected compared to their female
counterparts; 11 (34.4%).
Ath
0-9
10to19
20to29
30t039
40to49
SOto59
60t0o69
70to79
80+
Age group
mMale mFemale
Figure 3: Age and sex distribution of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Namibia as of 12 June
2020
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0S 100 2s 00 300 400 500k
y ee
COVID-19 Cases-Namibia
@ Positive Cases
Lab Tested Cases by District
(1 No Test
@ <50
50-99
Gl 100-399
@ >2000
Figure 4: Distribution of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in Namibia by District,
12 June 2020
4. PUBLIC HEALTH ACTION / RESPONSE INTERVENTIONS AND
SURVEILLANCE
¢ Case definitions as of 20 March 2020:
Suspected case:
A. A patient with acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one sign/symptom of
respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath), AND a history of travel to or
residence in a location reporting community transmission of COVID-19 disease
during the 14 days prior to symptom onset; OR
B. A patient with any acute respiratory illness AND having been in contact with a
confirmed or probable COVID-19 case in the last 14 days prior to symptom
onset; OR
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C. A patient with severe acute respiratory illness (fever and at least one
sign/symptom of respiratory disease, e.g., cough, shortness of breath; AND
requiring hospitalization) AND in the absence of an alternative diagnosis that fully
explains the clinical presentation.
Probable case: A suspect case for whom testing for COVID-19 is inconclusive.
Inconclusive being the result of the test reported by the laboratory
Confirmed case: A person with laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 infection,
irrespective of clinical signs and symptoms
e Active surveillance working case definition as of 20 April 2020
A patient diagnosed with Upper/Lower Respiratory Infection (Mild or Severe)
presenting any of the following signs and symptoms: cough, sore throat, fever,
chills, myalgia/body pains or shortness of breath in the past 7 days.
e Surveillance activities
e Call centre continue operations for 24 hours every day; 537 calls were answered
at the hotline today (12.06.2020) and 16 alerts were investigated.
e Namibia COVID-19 dashboard accessible via a link on the MoHSS’s website
http://www.mhss.gov.na/ or at https://cutt.ly/Covid-19-situation-Namibia
e Active case search in all regions is on going.
e Contact tracing and monitoring is ongoing (see Table 1).
e Mandatory supervised quarantine of all persons arriving from abroad is ongoing
(see Table 2).
o All people are tested upon entry into mandatory quarantine for rapid
detection of positive cases.
© All people in quarantine are monitored daily for 14 days and are being
tested twice ( upon arrival and on day 12 before release on day 15 if they
test negative.
Contact tracing Summary
As of 12 June 2020, a total of 525 contacts have been identified. Four hundred and fourty-two
(442) contacts have completed their 14 days of follow up and 69 are still active and being
monitored daily for 14 days (Table 1).

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Table 1: National contacts tracing summary for COVID-19 as of 12 June 2020
Total Number of contacts listed for follow up (potential)
176
97
268 | 541
Total Number of contacts identified (cumulative)
176
97
252 | 525
Total number of Contacts never reached
0
0
16
16
Total Number of contacts lost to follow up
0
2
5
7
Total Number of contacts that developed signs & symptoms
25
9
9
43
Total Number of contacts that tested positive (became cases)
4
1
0
5
Number of active contacts monitored/followed in the last 24hrs | 27
9:
33
69
Total number of Contacts completed 14-days follow up
145
87
210 | 442
As of 12 June 2020, a total of 2786 persons who came into the country have been placed into
supervised quarantine facilities around the country. Of the 2786, 2073 have been discharged
and 713 are currently quarantined (Table 2).
Table 2: Number of people in mandatory quarantine facilities as of 12 June 2020
Kunene
0
53.
Omaheke
0
92
Kavango
0
65
Omusati
0
102
Oshana
3
26
Ohangwena
0
190
Hardap
1
147
Otjozondjupa
0
328
Khomas
6
892
Zambezi
3
352
//Karas
4
355
Erongo
0
142
Oshikoto
0
42
Total
2786
LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS
e As of 12 June 2020, a total of 5681 (including 457 re-tested) COVID-19 specimens
have been tested in the two laboratories (NIP and Path Care) as per Table 3 below:
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Table 3: COVID-19 specimens recorded at NIP and Path care Laboratories as of 12 June
2020
Total sample received by the Laborato:
Total sample tested
Total sample re-tested
Total results
itive
Total results negative
Total sample discarded
Total results pendii
Total results inconclusive/indeterminate
Total new suspected cases in last 24 hours
4609
4100
430
24
4076
68
i
0
107
COUNTRY COORDINATION, PLANNING AND MONITORING
e Adelegation has been sent to Erongo region to give technical support for two weeks
from 11 - 25 June 2020.
e Another delegation will be sent to Omaheke Region on 15 June 2020 to give 2 days
technical support.
e A team to travel to and provide technical spport to Karas region did not go as it was
initially planned (11-25 June 2020), new date yet to be determined.
e UN Namibia donated assorted flow charts and posters on surveillance covering
contact tracing structure, contact identification and categorization, case definition,
laboratory results sharing structures.
CASE MANAGEMENT:
e Out of the 32 cumulative confirmed cases, 17 have recovered after testing negative
twice for COVID-19 at 48 hours’ interval.
e Ofthe 15 active cases, | is still in ICU but in a stable and improving condition. The
other 14 are clinically stable.
INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL:
e IPC activities are on going:
o Distribution of PPE according to the Regional plans
o Monitoring of IPC in health facilities
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Three additional members have been seconded from CDC and Quality Assurance
to support the national IPC team.
Continous monitoring of national IPC stock levels
o Full PPE -2349
© Respirators - 6087
o Medical masks — 1309
LOGISTICS.
Received a donation of 35 laptops (each with a bag and a mouse), and 37 tablets
from Old Mutual Namibia for surveillance pillar.
0. The electronic devices were issued to the surveillance team.
Facilitation of the allocation of quarantine facilities around the country and
transportation of discharged people from quarantine facilities is ongoing.
POINTS OF ENTRY:
Ongoing screening and inspection of incoming travellers and trucks at points of
entry and check points.
Table 4. Distribution of truck drivers who came into Namibia from neighboring countries
and their destination regions on 12 June 2020
Karas
Khomas
Oshana
Otjozondj
Kavango
Ohangwena
Hardap
Kunene
Omaheke
Omusati
Oshikoto
Zambezi
Erongo
41
Total
149
43
14
0
4
0
210
The majority 149 (71%) of the truck drivers departed from South Africa to various
destinations, of which the highest number (76) was headed to Khomas Region (Table 4).
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RISK COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
¢ The sms project with MTC and TN Mobile has resumed. A set of messages on
COVID-19 have been developed. The messages are aimed at giving tips on the use
of mask, prevention mechanisms and on nutrition guidlines. The message will be
shared with all MTC and TN mobile as from the 15‘ June 2020.
e An additional 2000 copies of the Community Engagement toolkit printed by
UNAIDS have been received and the distribution has commenced.
e The media monitoring still continues with aim of showing how the public is
interacting with the IEC materials.
e The COVID-19 Communication Center continues to update the public on the status
of the outbreak, the impact on different sectors and address rumours around
COVID-19.
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES:
e Continous provision of health education, psychosocial support services to persons
in need;
o Confirmed cases and their families
o People in quarantine
5. CHALLENGES:
e Inadequate isolation units at health facilities in the regions.
e Inadquate PPE
e Inadequate nasopharyngeal swabs and appropriate transport media.
6. RECOMMENDATIONS AND WAY FORWARD:
e Establish fully equipped isolation units at health facilities in the regions.
¢ Logistics pillar to continue with the procurement and distribution of sufficient PPE
to the regions to ensure that response is not interrupted.
e NIP to continue sourcing for swabs and appropriate transport media.
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wei[wn 4_~
Incident Manager
Date: 12 June 2020
- Sock
Secretariat
For enquiries, please contact
Namibia Public Health Emergency Operations Centre:
Email: PHEOC@mhss.gov.na
Hotline Toll-free: 0800 100 100
Hotline Whatsapp: 085 1100 100
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