Mbabane: Impeccable sources have revealed that the town of Nhlangano in the Shiselweni region in the southern part of the country is alive with activity and almost it is businesses as usual despite the rapid rise of the COVID-19 pandemic cases.
Thus far, Nhlangano has recorded two confirmed cases as announced by the minister of health Lizzie Nkosi. Fears of local transmission are close to being confirmed as all the recently confirmed cases have no travel history. Nhlangano shares a border with South Africa with a good number of the town’s inhabitants plying their trade in the neighbouring country. A lot of other inhabitants of the region have relatives in nearby places like Piet Retief, Commondale, Paul Pietersburg and Vryheid.
The country now stands at 40 confirmed cases as from April 24.
According to Worldometer, South Africa’s confirmed cases are not getting any better as they currently stand at 4, 220 and 80 deaths. Recovered cases are 1, 473 while active cases stand at 2, 668.
Drawn for Shiselweni Administrator Vincent Mhlanga said the region has a vast population which translates to long queues of people going into the shops to buy food. The region’s population runs at 204,111 according to a 2017 census, almost one third of the country’s 1, 157, 986 population. Shiselweni is divided into 14 Tinkhundla.
He said some people stand in lines from as long as dawn to midday before they can gain access into food outlets. He said still a big number is without the masks while also finding it difficult to observe ample distance between each other. However, the armed forces in the police and warders are doing all they can to ensure the regulations are not violated.
Mhlanga mentioned that another challenge is the sick that need visitations to health care centres. These people board public transport without masks and being vulnerable who knows if they will not contract the virus, he wondered.
He said they are grateful to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) which provided close to 10 000 masks to be distributed to the town’s inhabitants starting with the most vulnerable. Mhlanga is also aware of government’s on-going talks to bring a way out to the situation not only to the Shiselweni region but all three others.
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