The Botswana government on Thursday attributed a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases to funeral gatherings and urged citizens to take extra caution when attending such events.
“We’ve seen a spike in cases due to funeral gatherings. Please let’s take extra caution,” the government tweeted.
The government appealed to the public to refer to existing COVID-19 regulations before making any funeral arrangements. Currently, a maximum of 50 people are allowed to attend funerals and the events are not to be longer than two hours.
The warning came as the government reported 696 new COVID-19 cases since March 20 taking the southern African nation’s total to 36,077 while the death toll stood at 506.
Earlier this month, President Mokgweetsi Masisi urged persons who test positive for COVID-19 to self-isolate at home because the nation’s health facilities had been overwhelmed by a rising number of cases.
Before that, Masisi said recent research in the country had shown that 80 percent of local cases were of the new variant first detected in South Africa, which is reported to be more infectious.
Though Botswana lifted a ban on alcohol sales and eased curfew restrictions, an existing curfew was extended until the end of March.
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