GABORONE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Botswana capital city Gaborone was put on lockdown on Monday after registering a new positive case of COVID-19 on Sunday.
Barely two days after easing of restrictions of movement within the country to open up the economy, the Coordinator of the Presidential COVID-19 Task Force Kereng Masupu told the media on Monday that they have taken a decision to suspend travel in and out of the capital city with immediate effect.
He said only those with essential permits will be allowed to travel.
Masupu said this comes after a truck driver who came into Gaborone from neighbouring South Africa on Saturday tested positive for the virus.
The results for the driver only came out on Sunday when he had already made contact with several other people.
Masupu said health officials are currently tracing those who came into contact with the driver for testing while the driver is admitted at a local hospital for COVID-19.
He also said that all businesses where the driver had been to were closed immediately and will remain closed until health officials deem it safe to open them.
Despite having been on full lockdown, Botswana borders had remained open to allow transport of essential goods, especially food from South Africa.
The case is the first positive case of the virus in the Southern African country in over two weeks and brings the total number of positive cases to 24.
Amongst these there was one death recorded and 11 recoveries and 12 active cases.
At least 50, 000 public officers were expected to return to work on Monday after the country went into lockdown on April 2.
Meanwhile, Masupu assured that an effective screening system to contain the spread of the pandemic is in place. Enditem
