Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash
Overview of the reported data for the month of September 2020.
Despite an average of over 100 daily cases continuing to be reported through the end of September 2020, indications are that the COVID-19 pandemic is in gradual decline in Namibia.
The trends for the 30-day period were …
Cumulative cases
The data from September clearly shows a slowdown in COVID-19 infections.
- There were 3,715 new cases announced in September;
- In July 2020, Namibia added 1,924 COVID-19 cases and in August 2020, Namibia recorded 5,421 confirmed cases;
- Namibia recorded 5,800 recoveries during September, at a daily average rate of 193 recoveries.
Daily new cases
- For the first 10 days of September 2020, 1,706 new infections were announced, at an average of 170 newly confirmed cases per day;
- From 11 to 20 September, 1121 new infections were announced, at an average of 112 newly confirmed cases per day;
- From 21 to 30 September, 888 new infections were announced, at an average of 88 newly confirmed cases per day.
The September daily average was roughly 124 new cases per day, which was much lower than the average of 175 new cases announced during the 31-day period of August 2020, but still double the average of 62 new cases per day for July 2020.
On 27 September, Namibia crossed the 11,000 confirmed infections mark , 10 days after crossing 10,000 cases.
Testing
In September 2020, 36,607 samples were tested, at an average rate of 1,220 per day.
However, there appears to be a decline in testing, with over 14,100 tests conducted from 1 to 10 September, almost 13,200 tests conducted from 11 to 20 September, and just 9,331 tests conducted from 21 to 30 September.
Infection demographics
According to the situation report of 30 September 2020 of the World Health Organization (WHO) Namibia office, the following:
- By the end of September 2020, the confirmed infections amounted to 0.5% of the Namibian population;
- The recovery rate stood at 80%;
- Men accounted for over 54% of the confirmed infections;
- The 5 to 19-year-old age bracket accounted for almost 11% of confirmed infections;
- The 20 to 49-year-old age segment accounted for about 72% of confirmed infections;
- The 50 to 59-year-old age group accounted for 10.4% of confirmed infections;
- Altogether, the 5 to 59-year-olds (under-60s) accounted for over 95% of confirmed infections.
Namibians are encourage to:
- Wear a mask when in public;
- Maintain prescribed physical distances when in public spaces;
- Regularly wash hands with soap and sanitize where possible and available;
- Avoid crowded in-door spaces and events;
- Adhere to gathering size rules (not more than 50 people).