GABORONE, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi has gone into self-isolation for a period of fourteen days starting March. 21, 2020, following his trip to Namibia, according to a statement issued by Botswana Office of the President on Sunday.
"The rationale for the imposition of self-isolation is that while Namibia has registered three imported cases, and is considered low risk for SARS-CoV-2 transmission at the time of His Excellency the President's trip to Namibia, the low testing rates in the region makes that determination difficult..." the statement said.
During the time of self-isolation, Masisi will be tested for COVID-19 prior to being cleared. Masisi will be working from his official residence but quarantined away from his family.
Malaki Tshipayagae, the director in charge of coronavirus within Botswana's ministry of health and wellness, has extended the same impositions to rest of the staff that travelled with the president to Namibia, it added.
The statement further indicated that Masisi undertook an emergency official trip to Namibia on Saturday to seize the opportunity of the presence of other regional heads of state in Windhoek, Namibia to discuss critical COVID-19 measures taken in the respective countries sharing borders with Botswana.
