The infection rate of COVID-19 and related deaths have dropped drastically this last festive season as compared to the previous year.
This was revealed by National COVID-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) Chief Executive Officer Operational Support, Mr. Thabo Ntoi at the weekly press briefing held in Maseru on Thursday.
Mr. Ntoi said only 13 people died of COVID-19 in January and 1,721 positive cases were registered, unlike in the previous year when 246 people died and over 7000 were infected in the month of January.
He added that although people are still infected with this virus, they do not get hospitalized, urging those who did not vaccinate to do so.
He said these statistics prove that vaccination against COVID-19 helps as the majority of people vaccinated towards the end of last year.
In another issue, Mr. Ntoi announced that the Public Health Regulations were released on Friday last week which show that the restriction of movement and trading hours for businesses have been lifted.
He emphasized that businesses and other sectors are expected to operate based on licensed trading hours, adding that the 50 percent capacity at certain places has also been lifted.
However, he stressed the need for people to observe COVID-19 safety protocols at all times, saying as people drink alcohol and dance at nightclubs and other entertainment facilities, they are expected to produce their vaccination certificate as proof that they have been vaccinated.
“People should observe safety protocols because we do not want the country to induce lockdown again because of this pandemic,” he said.
Statistics from NACOSEC show that to date, over 913,000 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Latest COVID-19 updates from NACOSEC show that to date, 379, 901 tests have been conducted with 32,250 positive cases and 21,900 recoveries and 694 confirmed deaths.

Source: LENA 03/02/2022