The COVID-19 test results for International travellers passing through Angola into Namibia via the Katwitwi border should come from a certified laboratory, the Director of Health in the Kavango West Region Fransiska Hamutenya said.

Hamutenya said this on Thursday on the sidelines of the official opening of the Katwitwi border by the Namibia and Angola governments.

Last month, the two nations resolved to open the Katwitwi and Santa Clara (Oshikango) borders for the movement of people and goods after they were closed in 2020 to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hamutenya said international travellers are required to present a negative PCR test which should not be more than 72 hours old.

Travellers, she said, should also provide an isolation certificate that would indicate that he or she was quarantined.

“This proof should not be more than three months old.

“Namibian citizens are required to provide a vaccination card but will not be turned back if they don’t have one,” she said.

She said those who fail to present results or a vaccination card will be subjected to a mandatory quarantine of seven days.

Governor of the Kavango West Region, Sirkka Ausiku, said she was happy to see that the modalities put in place to control the spread of COVID-19 by both governments are the same.

She however encouraged the people of both nation’s to be vaccinated.

Governor of the Quando Cubango Province, Jose Martins, said the re-opening of the border will facilitate the livelihoods of the people of the two countries who have relatives on both sides of the border.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency