Mbabane: While government is working hard on flattening the curve and controlling the spread of the virus, figures are showing the right opposite.
A daily graph of COVID-19 confirmed cases released by the Ministry of Health on May 10, when giving COVID-19 show that there is an upward trend on new cases. Minister Lizzie Nkosi, through a statement said factors impacting the trend include the laboratory results turnaround time, new case finding through contact tracing, screening, swab collection and sample transportation activities at regional and facility level. “The effectiveness of the above mentioned is very vital for producing a trend which is directly proportional to the Eswatini epidemic curve”, she said.
However, the COVID-19 virus spread is gaining momentum. This is evident as Eswatini has recorded 113 cases in 14 days, a huge increase in such a period since the first case was reported.
Eswatini recorded its first case March 16, 2020 and government responded in a bid to contain the spread as on March 27, 2020 by announcing a 21 days lockdown. The lockdown was declared by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini.
After the initial lockdown came to an end, government announced a relaxed lockdown which allowed movement of people and opened some businesses to operate.
During the period beginning from April 26 – May 10, Eswatini recorded the above number of confirmed cases which was a huge increase. This indicated that the Kingdom recorded 56 cases in 40 days and 113 in 14 days.
Manzini continues to have the highest number of cases, and as of May 10, 2020 Manzini stood at 98 cases, followed by Hhohho at 44, with Lubombo at 25 and Shiselweni with only 5 cases. The sharp increase in number of cases come at a time when government was in the process of easing lockdown to allow the economy to breathe.
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