The Katima Mulilo State Hospital has reinstated precautionary measures amidst rising COVID-19 cases. Three people have died since May.

The hospital recorded 23 cases in May and six in June.

A Senior Nurse, Daniel Simataa, who is also responsible for the pillar of management at the hospital, says none of the three cases were vaccinated.

"The first one was a 13-year-old who came with difficulty in breathing, so you can see that COVID-19 can come to all ages, so the 13-year-old came at night with a very severe difficulty in breathing, could not breathe, we tried to stabilise, we took a swab at the same time, it came out positive, unfortunately, we couldn't save her, so it was just a duration of six hours that child passed on; it was a 13-year-old learner."

The others were 33 and 71 years old.

Simataa explains that the hospital reinstated the precautionary measures to manage the spread of the virus in a region that receives a high volume of visitors from various countries.

"We are putting measures in place whereby we have intensified the screening of everyone who is coming to the hospital through tracing and the mandatory use of masks for all visitors, including patients, and we have also put measures in place that the visiting hours will be reduced to 30 minutes with only 2 visitors per patient. We are putting these measures in place just to reduce the COVID spread because already there's an indication that the COVID is increasing, looking at the number of cases that we have recorded so far and the deaths that have come."

Only one patient is currently admitted to the COVID-19 Unit. Simataa says only patients who are in critical condition are or will be admitted.

The rest have been advised to isolate at home, but health workers continue to monitor their conditions.

Simataa advises those who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 to do so and to exercise caution when out in public.