China coronavirus: Mozambique steps up checks at borders

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China coronavirus: Mozambique steps up checks at borders

1:20 CAT | 23 Jan 2020

File: Maputo International Airport. [File photo: MMO]

The Ministry of Health of Mozambique (MISAU) has announced today that it has, in the scope of counter-measures against the Chinese Wuhan coronavirus, intensified screening at the main points of entry of foreigners.

“We have intensified surveillance at the main points of entry into the country, especially for travellers from the affected area in the People’s Republic of China,” Lorna Gujirate, head of the Health Surveillance Department at MISAU, told public television channel TVM.

Lorna Gujirate said that health teams were deployed to these points to check on all passengers, namely measuring their temperature.

Mozambique is home to a large Chinese community and more and more Mozambicans are travelling to China on business.

The National Health Commission of China said that, as of midnight on Wednesday, it had counted 571 confirmed cases in 25 provinces and regions of the country. The virus has already caused 17 deaths, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.

The National Health Commission of China has warned that this new type of coronavirus, a species of virus that causes respiratory infections in humans and animals, “can mutate and spread more easily”.

Outside mainland China, cases of the disease have been confirmed in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and the United States.

The symptoms of the new coronaviruses are more intense than flu and include fever, pain, malaise and breathing difficulties, including shortness of breath.

The outbreak comes at a time when millions of Chinese are travelling to celebrate Chinese New Year, the main holiday for Chinese families, equivalent to Christmas in Western countries. According to the Chinese Ministry of Transport, the country is expected to register a total of three billion domestic trips over the next 40 days.

Source: Lusa