The landlocked country suspended all international travel for its government and parastatal officials, but this caused more panic as ordinary citizens asked what it meant for them.

JOHANNESBURG - Concerns are mounting in Lesotho about the country's readiness and communication in handling coronavirus (COVID-19).

While the kingdom on Wednesday said it was screening all land and air arrivals at its one international airport, it didn’t have COVID-19 testing capabilities and was waiting for results from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa for its one suspected case.

#Lesotho confirms it has a suspected case of #CoronaVirus



Samples have been sent to NICD South Africa as the kingdom can’t test for #Covid19



Now awaiting results

⁦@nthakoana⁩ pic.twitter.com/39UQ4D0I66 — EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) March 10, 2020

The landlocked country suspended all international travel for its government and parastatal officials, but this caused more panic as ordinary citizens asked what it meant for them.

#Lesotho has suspended all international travel due to #CoronaVirus



Health Communications official Tumisang Mokoai confirms this internal memo is authentic@nthakoana pic.twitter.com/XUKzw8JTq6 — EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) March 10, 2020

Hundreds of thousands of Basotho and South Africans cross the borders between the two countries daily. They ranged from pupils going to school and back, to business operators and health referrals to South African hospitals.

The government moratorium on international travel for officials was silent on these people and added to that was the kingdom’s confirmation that it was awaiting results from the NICD for its one suspected case of COVID-19.

All the Department of Health was saying was that the patient was a 35-year-old foreign man who arrived last month on his first visit to the country, with no details of where he was travelling from and how he arrived.

Instead of answering questions, the two announcements raised concerns even among health professionals who told Eyewitness News they feared that they would be exposed and that Lesotho’s already ailing health system would not cope.

However, the ministry of health appealed for calm and said it continued to take all precautions.