Namibia’s malaria cases this year increased to 12,507 from 2,841 recorded in 2019, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health availed to Xinhua Friday.
The southern African country recorded 31,000 cases of malaria in 2018.
The National Vector-borne Diseases Control Program from the Health Ministry which monitors the weekly malaria situation in the country shows that this year alone 12,507 malaria cases where recorded, while 40 deaths occurred.
The ministry said the huge difference between 2019 and this year is attributed to the fact that 2019, was a drought year and the rainfall pattern was not similar to 2020 and 2018, hence the decline in malaria cases happened in 2019.
According to the ministry, currently the implementation of the program activities amid COVID-19 is on halt due to some bottlenecks.
“The COVID-19 regulations have slowed down the implementation of program activities due to restriction on people movement, gatherings of more than 10 people and delayed delivery of antimalarial commodities, resulting in some program activities being canceled,” the ministry concluded.
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