Health and Social Services Minister Kalumbi Shangula today said Namibia does not have the isolation capacity for 500 Namibians under lockdown in China amid the outbreak of the Coronavirus. He says repatriation is not yet an option for Namibia and that his ministry is assessing the situation daily. Giving a ministerial statement in the National Assembly, Shangula said there is a big chance of importing the virus into the country should Namibia decide to repatriate its citizens. He said the evacuation process might expose both the evacuees and the evacuating teams during the process, calling the exercise an irresponsible move that would be blamed on Government should the virus finds its way into the country. According to the initial estimation of the costed Coronavirus Response Plan for Namibia requires an amount of N$50 million. The Health Minister said calls to repatriate Namibians might resurface following South Africa’s announcement that it will repatriate its citizens who are in China, adding that Namibia is assessing the situation based on its own circumstances. Also briefing the house, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah says her office has received a report on 2 March indicating that China has reported a further drop in the number of news cases recorded, including Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the outbreak. She said not repatriating students does not mean the Government does not care but rather treating the situation with care by considering the safety of all Namibians. Africa has so far recorded seven cases of confirmed Coronavirus in countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.