GABORONE (Reuters) – Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi is in necessary self- isolation after testing positive for COVID-19 in routine testing, a authorities spokesperson mentioned on Monday.
“The president doesn’t have any signs and can proceed to obtain shut medical monitoring by his medical medical doctors,” John-Thomas Dipowe, performing everlasting secretary for Government Communications, mentioned in a press release.
Vice President Slumber Tsogwane will assume the president’s tasks till additional discover whereas Masisi is in isolation, Dipowe mentioned.
New coronavirus infections have risen sharply in the diamond-rich Southern African nation because the detection of the Omicron variant late final yr, to a mean of two,500 each three days from below 300 over the identical interval earlier than Omicron.
But well being officers say hospitalisations haven’t spiked.
Botswana has managed to totally vaccinate 71% of its eligible inhabitants of round 1.3 million folks.
Health officers mentioned on Dec. 29 that Botswana would begin to administer booster doses whereas the age restrict for vaccination was diminished to 12 years from 18 years.
(Reporting by Brian Benza; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Gareth Jones)
