Health and Social Services Minister, Dr Kalumbi Shangula has announced that Namibia on Friday recorded 865 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths bringing the total deaths in the country to 3 645.

In the daily update issued Saturday Shangula said the new cases formed part of 2 795 results and represented a 30.9 per cent positivity ratio, with a sex distribution of 458 females and 407 males aged between eight days and 96 years.

The Erongo Region recorded the highest number of cases at 168, followed by Khomas with 138, Otjozondjupa 119, llKaras 94, Kunene 66, Oshana 63, Zambezi 56, Ohangwena 38, Oshikoto 38, Omaheke 33, Omusati 17, Hardap 16, Kavango West 13 and Kavango East six.

Among the confirmed cases are 76 learners, 12 teachers, 14 students and 32 healthcare workers.

A total of 19 cases have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 105 are fully vaccinated while 716 or 82.7 per cent of the new cases are not vaccinated.

Shangula further reported that 887 new recoveries were recorded, bringing total recoveries in the country to 131 927.

The number of active cases on Saturday increased to 14 925 of which 323 were hospitalised and 35 are admitted to the intensive care units (ICU). Eight of the hospitalised cases received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 34 are fully vaccinated. One case in ICU received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while three cases also in ICU are fully vaccinated.

On the deaths, Shangula noted that one death occurred on 21 December, two occurred on 25 December, eight occurred between 26 and 30 December and one occurred on 31 December of 2021 which is within the 24-hours reporting cycle.

The minister also reported that by Friday, 405 095 people had received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine of which 105 345 had received the single dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. A total of 1 915 are children aged 12 to 17 years with 238 515 adults having received two doses of other vaccines.

A total of 343 860 people had completed their vaccination, which translates to 22.9 per cent of the target population. Meanwhile, 5 902 people have received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Shangula noted that all 22 deaths of the past two days are of individuals who were not vaccinated.

‘Some, if not all of these deaths could have been prevented, had the individuals been vaccinated. Let’s change our attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccinations and save lives,’ said Shangula.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency