Botswana has extended locked down by another week until May 7, with the view of easing restrictions thereafter.

The diamond-rich nation went on a 28-day lockdown to keep the spread off the coronavirus in check. Botswana has 22 infections confirmed and one death so far.

Botswana leader, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said in the second week of May they would start introducing relaxed phases.

“As government our strategic focus as advised by the Covid-19 Presidential Task Force is the containment of the spread and transmission of the pandemic in the country. Therefore, the discovery of locally transmitted cases has prompted us to ramp up our testing through contact tracing,” he said in a televised national address broadcast on Btv.

He added a new cluster of Covid-19 outbreak was being investigated in Metsimotlhabe, just outside the capital Gaborone, where a total of seven Batswana tested positive for Covid-19.

The seven cases were reportedly exposed to Covid-19 prior to the national lockdown. Masisi said the outbreak in the small village has forced them to treat several surrounding public and private areas as infectious.

“It’s important to inform you that the extended lockdown also involves an exit plan which is based on the success we anticipate. The extension of the current 28 days lockdown period will be implemented in phases,” he said.

Phase one is merely a continuation of the 28-day lockdown in which all travel, schools, liquor stores and non-essential businesses were closed. He said government would develop and finalise regulations for a phased lifting lockdown rules in low risk sectors.

Phase two will start on May 8 to 14 while phased three from May 15 to 22.

Masisi said the plan to relax the lockdown would depend on the Covid-19 level remaining low and if it grows a hard lockdown would be implemented.

Botswana’s parliament okayed a six-month long state of emergency earlier this month in a bid to limit the spread of Covid-19. Masisi said 21 people were recovering and would soon be released from quarantine.