The calculated responses against COVID-19 in Namibia

COVID-19 has spread to many countries and infected a vast number of people around the world. Namibia is not spared from this disease. On the early days of the pandemic in Namibia, the government instituted a four-stage strategy--from a full lockdown in Stage One with gradual relaxation of restrictions in Stage Two and ending with Stage Four. This was proven to be effective since the number of daily new cases were minimal by the time the restrictions were lifted in Stage Four, which allowed many non-essential businesses to resume, and borders to reopen. However, following this, the cases jumped in an alarming pace. The situation was also exacerbated partly by obliviousness of the people to restrictions due to their economic issues. At present, the government struggles to bring the situation back under control. Thus, the government reintroduced new restrictions to mitigate the situation. The country is facing paucity of facilities like personal protective equipment (PPE), health workers, intensive care unit (ICU) equipment and testing kits. To avoid further explosion of cases, Namibia needs to determine relaxation of restrictions based on the indicators of the situation of COVID-19. Assistance to the population and addressing insufficiency of facilities by the government through innovative solutions are of utmost importance in tussling the virus.