Walvis Bay residents, leaders welcome lockdown

RESIDENTS and leaders at Walvis Bay have applauded the president for what they describe as swift action to curb the spread of Covid-19 at the harbour town.

President Hage Geingob yesterday announced a second lockdown for Walvis Bay after several people there tested postive for Covid-19.

Reacting to the move yesterday, pastor Callie Rossow of the Walvis Bay Baptised Church said the church should live by biblical scripture to obey the government.

“If you go to Romans 13 (Bible scripture) there are clear demands for Christians to obey the government. We would like to help the government in every way we can.

"If the government says stage one lockdown, there must be a very good reason for it. So we must stick to that and I agree it is very difficult,” Rossow said.

Reverend Amenenge Nyati of the St. Mathews Parish Anglican Church at Walvis Bay concurred with Rossow, saying the community should welcome the government's move and adhere to the rules set.

"No one would like to hear that the first case of death is from your town. We should therefore be each other's keepers by following the State of Emergency regulations," he said.

Swapo Party district information coordinator for the Walvis Bay Urban Constituency Claudius Aikera also threw his support behind the president's announcement.

“The lockdown will serve us well for the seven days on condition that the ministry of health carries out aggressive testing so that we at least emerge virus-free.

"I know that we may not have the resources to carry out a large scale test of the whole town but at least test a large number of the population,” said Aikera.

Cognisant of the impact that the lockdown might have on business, Aikera added: “The lives of people are more important than the business. We now have to preserve lives, especially now that schools are preparing to open.” 

The chairperson of the Federation of Fishing Associations Matti Amukwa says it is also pleased that the government has placed lives above everything else.

“Life is precious and irreplaceable. We need to consider that first above everything else. It is a good move,” he said.

Amukwa added that the fishing industry will continue operating during this period.

“The industry is declared as an essential service provider and will continue to provide food security. The industry also came from stage 1 and has all the necessary preventative measures in place, so it (lockdown) is nothing new,” he said.