Mozambique: Government prepared for possible coronavirus outbreak

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Mozambique: Government prepared for possible coronavirus outbreak

1:27 CAT | 03 Feb 2020

The main task of the inter-ministerial team, said Cuco, is to establish conditions to prevent any outbreak of coronavirus, and to check travellers for any of the symptoms of the virus – such as fever, coughing, shortage of breath and muscular pains. [Photo: Jornal Domingo]

The Mozambican government announced on Friday the creation of an inter-ministerial team to deal with any outbreak of the coronavirus, which has claimed over 270 lives in China.

Speaking at a Maputo press conference, the National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene Cuco, said the team consists of representatives of the Ministries of Health, the Interior and Foreign Affairs. She added that civil society organisations are also in readiness to activate defence systems against a possible epidemic.

Marlenecuco.rm_ — *Rosa Marlene Cuco. [Photo: Rádio Moçambique]*

“We are improving our capacity to inform the public about how the coronavirus is transmitted, the measures that should be taken, and what to do in the event that a person becomes infected”, she said.

Equipment has been installed at all Mozambican airports to screen arriving passengers for the virus. So far no cases have been detected.

The spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Geraldo Saranga, told the reporters that none of the about 315 Mozambicans living in China (mostly students), have contracted the virus. This includes the 30 living in the city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei provinces which is where the outbreak is believed to have started, and where most of the deaths have occurred.

Saranga said the Mozambican authorities are in permanent contact with the country’s embassy in Beijing. “We have publicised all the prevention and control measures that should be taken in fighting against the epidemic”, he added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global health emergency – even though the vast majority of cases and deaths have occurred in China, and there have been few cases beyond China’s borders.

The latest statistics from China are that 11,791 cases have been diagnosed, of whom 259 have died. There has only been one coronavirus death outside China, in the Philippines.

Source: AIM