Botswana: Head Of State Mokgweetsi Masisi Placed In Quarantine

Botswana’s head of state, Mokgweetsi Masisi, has been quarantined after travelling to Namibia, a country that has recorded three cases of the new coronavirus, the presidency announced on Sunday.

Mokgweetsi Masisi was present in Windhoek on Saturday for the swearing-in of his Namibian counterpart Hage Geingob, who was re-elected in November. Several hundred people, including Zimbabwean presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Angolan Joao Lourenço, attended the ceremony at the presidential palace.

Sunday evening, the presidency of Botswana announced that “the director of health had placed his excellence” Mokgweetsi Masisi “in isolation for a period of fourteen days from March 21, 2020, following his trip” in Namibia.

Earlier in the week, Namibia had “registered three imported cases, but the low detection rate in the region makes there is a high risk of local transmission”, justified the presidency in a press release, stating that Mokgweetsi Masisi was going to be tested.

No cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed to date in Botswana.

The Presidency explained that Mokgweetsi Masisi’s trip to Namibia had been an opportunity to discuss with regional leaders the “crucial measures taken vis-à-vis Covid-19 by the countries bordering Botswana”.

The heads of state made the trip Saturday to Windhoek in contradiction with the orders they gave to their compatriots in this Covid-19 pandemic.

In Botswana, officials have been ordered not to leave the country.

In Zimbabwe, President Mnangagwa has banned his government from travelling abroad, a rule which, he said this week, also applied to himself.

In Angola, President Lourenço decreed the closing of land borders, the prohibition of commercial flights and the gathering of more than 50 people.