For more than nine months since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Namibia became one of the four African countries not to record a death case related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By October 2020, and since the index case in March 2020, the country has recorded a cumulative number of 12 367 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of these cases, by then 10 528 or 85 percent recovered, while 1 707 or 14 percent, remained active, with 132 deaths to COVID-19.

As a country, Namibia has learnt important lessons from the COVID-19 response. These relate to effective case management of confirmed cases through the use of evidence-based interventions; effective harnessing of our logistical capabilities and capacities; contact tracing; as well as in the areas of risk communication and community engagement to sensitize the public.

The implementation of the various measures to suppress and control the spread of the pandemic, yielded positive results. The initial concerns, that Namibian public health facilities and the public health system, in general, could become overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, did not come to pass. This outcome is attributable to the hard, but necessary response measures put in place by the Government to combat the pandemic and more importantly, the fact that Namibians largely complied with these measures.

By October 2020, there was a 40 percent reduction in the number of COVID-19 related deaths. Namibia had experienced a 61 percent reduction in the number of new cases. Namibia ranked 3rd on the continent in terms of the number of persons tested per 1000 people in the population. Only Morocco and South Africa conducted more tests while Rwanda is number 4.