Deputy Minister of Sport, Youth and National Services, Emma Kantema-Gaomas said the sport is a billion-dollar industry that creates employment for various professionals. She said the ministry has been affected. Programmes and projects which were in place to be implemented have been halted and athletes have lost income that they derive from being on the field. Ongoing developments of infrastructures have also been affected, she added. The deputy minister said the ministry has come up with tools to professionalise sport and to measure the contribution of sport in the nation. It is also reviewing its strategies and projects through reforming the school’s sports programme, safety nets, insurance, pensions and a relief fund for the athletes. The ministry has also engaged the Namibia Sports Commission to ensure guidelines and measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 are followed and to have a centre where athletes will share their experiences and receive psychosocial support during this pandemic. She also noted that the ministry has engaged the international federation and the finance ministry to assess how they can do their part in this situation. Joan Smit, the Secretary-General of the Namibia National Olympic Committee and the Namibia Commonwealth Games Association said sport has been affected globally, local and international activities have been cancelled. She said we are living in uncertainty times, “everything will be new after this pandemic”, adding that extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures. Therefore, they are relying on the guidance of the World Health Organisation (WHO), local and international federations and the Government. Smit said the sports world works on a voluntary basis and they are platforms to ensure they have proper management, where everyone is involved. She called for athletes to register on the online platform called Athlete 365 where they can also share their experiences. Athletes representative, Olympic cyclist Dan Craven said the cycling world has been affected as they wear branded clothing to promote them and there are no events anymore to showcase their sponsors and some athletes have therefore lost income. The cancellations of the biggest events, especially after competing hard, has a mental impact as well. He emphasised that it is more important to follow the guidelines than participating in their sports activities, and they must not think they are alone. He called on them to refocus and train their weakness, imbalances and injuries to build up their strength. They said this during an update at the COVID-19 communication Centre today.