Beira sprays Grande Hotel, markets and other public spaces as SOSCorona-Beira gains momentum

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Beira sprays Grande Hotel, markets and other public spaces as SOSCorona-Beira gains momentum

3:42 CAT | 14 Apr 2020

Grande Hotel. [Photo: Conselho Municipal da Beira (CMB)]

Door-to-door disinfection kicks off in Beira

A vast team from Beira Municipal Council, supervised by Mayor Daviz Simango, has sprayed the Grande Hotel, for the prevention of coronavirus. Disinfection and spraying actions have been underway in the capital of Sofala province, recently boosted by a civil society movement which has been growing – SOSCORONA-Beira. A report and some images follow.

In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of businesspeople in the city of Beira set out to create a civil society movement called SOScORONA-BEIRA, which aims to mitigate community contamination by disinfecting public spaces.

At the birth of the SOScORONA-BEIRA group on April 4, Beira Mayor Daviz Simango welcomed the initiative and, immediately, the city began to be sprayed. The markets, being the locations of large groupings of people, were the first targets, Ponta-Gea, Gorjão, Maquinino, Munhava Central, Machipisse, Daviz Simango and Macúti being covered.

The work, benefiting from the resources mobilised by SOScORONA-BEIRA (two machine pumps, workers and technical assistance), prompted the city council to acquire, on the 8th, a further ten mechanical pumps that were added to the existing ten. This allowed increased productivity and the spraying of Manga Mascarenha, Descida do Nhangau and Goto, other markets, the level crossing terminal, 50 minibuses, 100 motorcycles and 29 txopelas.

After just five days, the Beira City Council assessed the SOScORONA-BEIRA initiative as “fantastic”, and said that the movement had opened “a field for us to debate and share the burden, as this is a time for voluntarism to help save our city and above all the lives that inhabit it,” as councillor for health and social action Atija José Pililão told magazine CRV.

Looking ahead, she praised and thanked the “active citizenship” of the individuals and companies involved in SOScORONA-BEIRA, specifically Electro Zone Lda, Gráfica e Carimbos Expresso, Ziyad Motors, Casa Simões, Electrónica do Indico, Tengwa Moçambique, Lar Doce, Quadri Center, Haroon Iqbal, Feira Nova, Farmácia Cristal da Beira, Auto-Fit, Uzeir Trade Center, Total Ponta-gêa, Sena Centro, Super mercado da Baixa, Hanif Aba Cassam, ZH Clean and Cornelder Moçambique.

“As you can imagine, the municipality has its obligations and agenda and started the work. Along the way this divine hand (SOScORONA-BEIRA) came to our aid. We applaud them and hope to see more initiatives and gender participation taking place,” Atija said, emphasising particularly the partnership that the municipality had established with ZH Clean, calling its availability of resources and technical assistance “fantastic”.

In the same vein, the spokesman for the SOScORONA-Beira group, lawyer Gilberto Correia, noted that: “in view of this SOScORONA-Beira partnership, sponsors and CMB, disinfection activities have expanded to include more spaces and areas.” Correia said there were plans to increase the number of sponsors and enthusiasts and extend the action to other public spaces.

Magazine CRV found that neighbourhoods with high population density, such as Munhava Matope, Vaz, Grande Hotel, Ndunda 1 and 2, Goto and Chingussura had already been sprayed.

Disinfection will now continue at the Matacuane Corredor, Primeiro de Maio, Feira dos Pioneiros, Ceramics, Inhamízua, Mobeira, Vila Massane, Chigunssura and Solar das Andorinhas markets and will then move on to banks, FIPAG, TDM, jails and so on.

“The activity of the group continues to build, and it is appealing to all citizens and companies of good will who want to help in this very important endeavour and prevent contamination by Covid-19 to join, or channel their support through the group, with the guarantee that it will be applied for the proper purposes and with proper accountability,” Correia said.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Atija clarified that the disinfection process had started at the same time as the notification of the first suspected coronavirus case in Mozambique. The municipal executive, she explained, had “gathered in its ordinary session, in the third week of last March, and deliberated concrete actions that consisted of attacking areas of risk. Hence, it began by disinfecting the mortuary and various other establishments while delivering cutting-edge protective equipment and rolling out the current preventative measures ”.

Soscoronab — *Grande Hotel. [Magazine CRV]*

She also noted that disinfection had been carried out at neighbourhood headquarters and at the headquarters of the Administrative Posts, at the main Beira Municipal Council building and at the Beira Municipal Assembly and its various subdivisions, at community development centres throughout the city, and daily on public buses.