Swazi Observer

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ON-THE-SPOT TESTS FOR MANZINI FOLKS

By NONDUDUZO KUNENE | 2020-04-27

THE ministry of health working with the Royal Eswatini Police Service will from today conduct roadblocks in the Manzini locations and test everyone passing through for COVID-19.

This was revealed by Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi yesterday during a press briefing where she revealed three more cases of COVID-19; taking the number to 59.

All the three cases are from the Manzini region, which has become the coronavirus epicentre in the country.

Nkosi said most of these cases were from densely populated areas of the Manzini region.

She said during these roadblocks police would be screening every person, especially passengers.

“If a person shows signs of COVID-19 during the screening the rapid response team from the ministry of health will conduct the coronavirus testing immediately.

After conducting the test, the suspected case will be immediately isolated or quarantined to ensure that he or she does not spread the virus while waiting for the results in case they test positive for coronavirus,” the minister said.

She added that looking at the trends of the COVID-19 cases, the number of patients being discharged are stalled as they still stand at 10 while positive cases have increased drastically.

Nkosi emphasised on the use of face masks by members of the public.

She pleaded that everyone should were masks whenever they are outside so that they are protected from contacting the virus.

She said the huge number of cases in the region has made them to increase surveillance in the Manzini region.

This come after the minister announced 16 cases on Saturday which were also from Manzini region.

The three new cases are two females and one male. Case no. 57 the minister said is a 24-year- old woman; case no. 58 is a 33-year-old woman while case no. 59 is a 37-year-old man all from Manzini region. Yesterday the ministry received 59 tests results. "There are 59 COVID-19 cases in the country and the majority of them are from Manzini region," she said.

The minister explained that in as much trends indicate that Manzini might be COVID-19 epicentre, the numbers may change.

The minister further revealed that the 16 cases that were reported on Saturday and all the COVID-19 results show that in the next two weeks the focus would be more on the Manzini and Mbabane corridor as most cases are from the two regions.

Furthermore, Nkosi said out of the 16 that tested positive on Saturday, there were three families and four workmates.

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