VETERAN DR WASSWA (75) DIES OF COVID-19

MBABANE – COVID-19 has claimed the life of the first healthcare worker in the country.
Veteran doctor, David Wasswa (75), a long-serving health practioner, succumbed to COVID-19-related complications while admitted to one of the country’s private hospitals yesterday morning.

His death was confirmed by the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, during a press briefing at the Cabinet Offices. The minister also confirmed two other deaths related to COVID-19.

This brings the number of deaths in the country to 17. Of the two other deaths, one is a 67-year-old female from the Hhohho Region who presented with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 in one of the hospitals.

Admitted

She was admitted as a COVID-19 suspected case and diagnosed with the virus the next day. Her clinical condition rapidly deteriorated due to other existing illnesses and died within 24 hours of admission.

The other is a 68-year-old male from the Hhohho Region, who was admitted to one of the country’s hospitals as a suspected case. He also had other known underlying conditions which he was also being treated for. His condition worsened and he died while preparations to transfer him to Lubombo Referral Hospital centre were being done.

The minister, who was in a sombre mood, said it was disheartening that the country had lost Dr Wasswa to COVID-19-related complications. Nkosi said the doctor was a hard-working person who was dedicated to his work and was very humble.
Nkosi passed her condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. She further urged health workers not to lose hope, but have courage and continue to serve the nation as per their pledge in the health service.

The minister stated that the country was not yet out of danger regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
She stated that with such an increase in transmission of COVID-19 among the population, an increase in deaths was expected if efforts put towards reducing its spread did not yield any fruit.

The minister said this month would be most challenging as it was predicted that cases would continue to rise. As such, she said the ministry was working on deploying teams to find and test all symptomatic cases in the Manzini Region hot spots and priority areas in the Hhohho Region, through door-to-door visits.
“Teams will be visiting households to screen and test those showing symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 disease and provide further education messages for COVID-19 prevention,” she said.

Nkosi said additional teams for contact tracing would be added, especially in the areas of high transmission within the Manzini Region. She said the aim was to improve the efforts of finding more people who may be positive but were still not identified and isolated appropriately.  According to Nkosi, in the recent health report on COVID-19, they noted that the number of confirmed cases in the country continued to rise exponentially, with Manzini Region alone accounting for more than half of the confirmed cases.

The minister added that in the Hhohho and Manzini Regions, the proportion of cases shot up to 80 per cent.
Nkosi said the ministry was monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country on a day-to-day basis and had already seen community transmission in the Manzini and Hhohho regions.
“Manzini Region has the highest number of cases, followed by Hhohho Region, while clusters of cases are seen in Lubombo and Shiselweni Regions,” said Nkosi.

She reminded the nation to continue being vigilant with measures to prevent the spread of the virus in order to protect the frontline workers who were exposed to contracting the virus as assistance was sought from them. 

Further, she emphasised the importance of self-isolating while still waiting for the results outcome in order to prevent spreading the virus and infecting others. She urged those who were being treated at home to adhere to the rules issued by health workers.

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