(Bloomberg) -- Namibia is experiencing a third wave of coronavirus infections, with the health ministry confirming 717 new cases on Thursday -- a daily record.
The test positivity rate and Covid-19-related hospitalizations and deaths have risen sharply, according to Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula.
The alarming increase in the caseload “is an indication that the public is not strictly following the Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures,” Shangula said Friday. “More people are becoming symptomatic, getting seriously ill and dying.”
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By Thursday, 56,981 people had tested positive for the disease in the nation with a population of 2.5 million and 877 of them had died -- 47 of them in the past three days -- while 90% had recovered. Increased hospital admissions have placed the oxygen-supply infrastructure under pressure, the health ministry warned.
The southwestern African nation started issuing coronavirus vaccines in March, and has so far inoculated 4.5% of the 1.5 million people it is targeting.
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