Indian Covid-19 strain rides on Gov’t enclave turf war

The power struggle between the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Presidential Covid-19 Task team enabled more than a dozen airplane passengers infected with the Covid 19 B.1.617 first discovered in India to slip into Botswana – Sunday Standard investigations have revealed.

The Presidential Task Team last week wrote to the Ministry of Health and Wellness complaining about how they were kept in the dark about the virulent and highly infectious strain until it had developed into a runaway train.

Sunday standard has turned up a case report complied by the Ministry of Health and wellness dated 14.05.2021 detailing how the ministry bungled the handling of infected airplane passengers.

The first two passengers were detected on 24^th April after disembarking at Sir Seretse Khama airport. The case report states: “11 International Arrivals (Indian origin), all PCR negative, 2 Ag-RDT positive, 9 Ag-RDT Negative.”

This in medicalese for, 11 international passengers from India disembarked at Sir Seretse Khama airport on 24^th April and all presented PCR test from their country of origin indicating that they tested positive. Rapid tests at the Ministry of Health and Wellness Airport screening center turned up two positive results. The other nine were allowed to pass through. 

The fresh argument between the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Presidential Task Team is that rapid tests are not reliable and the nine who tested positive were part of the cohort with the two that tested positive and should have also been quarantined.

The Case report reveals that the nine who were allowed into the country reported for work at a construction company engaged in a major government project. For days later they started displaying flue like symptoms and the employer (name withheld) referred them to Diagnofirm for PCR tests. Eight posted positive results to the PCR test while one tested negative.

At the time, the Indian expatriates had been mingling with their Batswana counterparts, spreading the highly infectious virus.

The case report reveals that on 3^rd May a cleaner working for the construction company tested positive and was asked to home isolate. Three days later she left for Sikwane (without disclosure of movement). She was later isolated at UB before being moved to Tlotlo Conference Center on 14^th May.

On 6^th May another cleaner working for the construction company tested positive. Her husband also tested positive and sequencing of their virus reveal Indian variant.

The case report reveals that a number of expatriates carrying the Indian Covid-19 variant may have slipped past the Ministry of Health and Wellness screening center before 24^th April when the first two cases were detected. It emerges from the report that four expatriates who arrived from India on 7^th March three from Punjab and one from West Bengal tested negative at the Sir Seretse Khama screening center and later all tested positive.

On 23^rd another passenger from Karnataka in India tested negative at the Ministry of health and wellness screening center and later tested positive.

It is understood that it was only last week that the Ministry of Health and Wellness, fresh out of ideas turned to the Covid-19 Task team for advice. It was at this point that the task team filed a formal complaint that the ministry had been hiding crucial information from them.

The Sunday standard has in the past reported on how the power struggle between the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) and the Presidential Covid-19 Coordination Task Team is undermining Botswana’s response to the pandemic – documents passed to the Sunday Standard have revealed.

The Sunday Standard revealed a letter from the Coordination Task Team dated 4^th January 2021 and addressed to the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Wellness Kabelo Ebineng which suggested that the ministry was withholding crucial information about the pandemic from the Task Team. The Team was established by President Mokgweetsi Masisi to coordinate Botswana’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It emerged from the letter that as the country was reeling from the festive season super spreader, the Covid-19 Coordination Task Team was in the dark about the extent of the pandemic because the Ministry of Health and Wellness had not shared the information with them for “almost two months.”

In the letter, the Coordination office complained that it “had not received reports from District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) for almost two months.

In another letter dated 7^th March 2021 and addressed to the former Permanent Secretary to the President Elias Magosi, the Task team complained that, “the lack of cooperation by the Ministry of Health and Wellness to fully automate sampling and releasing of COVID19 results to patients and share outbreak information timeously, undermines effective disease response. The current disease reporting is substandard; there is a significant dip in cases during weekends (trend shared with MOHW in October 2020), indicating lack of contact tracing during these times. Similarly, with the roll out of rapid antigen testing, cases are reported late; new case reports have ranged from 1000 to over 2000 in the past 1-2 weeks owing to dumping of bulk, delayed reporting of cases. The COVID19 Coordination Office is of the view that there should be clear and timely direction on how to facilitate availability of such information to the COVID19 Coordination Task team Office.”

The letter further laments” reluctance by the Ministry of health and Wellness to consult the COVID19 Coordination Office in relation to statutory instruments intended to curb the spread of COVID19. 

In another letter dated 28^th March 2021, addressed to the former Permanent Secretary to the President Elias Magosi, it emerges that the Ministry of Health and Wellness closed the task team out of the Arm Ready vaccination event. “However, we regret to inform you that the Ministry of Health and Wellness continues to attend to COVID-19 matters without involving the Coordination Office. A case in point is the recent launch of the Arm ready vaccination event, which the Coordination Office was not aware of until it became public. The Arm ready even has subsequently not been supported by a communication plan as indicated by questions arising from the public.

“The various activation events for the vaccination exercise were also not shared with the Coordination Office. Dr Masupu and Dr Matshaba were invited at the last minute to lend support to the vaccination activation programme and they attended to save Government from embarrassment.

“In relation to the procurement unit supervision, it is our considered view that set protocols and procedures should be documented to direct that only COVID-19 related material and/or services, as approved by the COVID-19 Coordination Office, may be procured by the Office of the President established procurement office.”