Afungi-Pemba charter crew, mandatory quarantine and state of emergency rules – A Verdade

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Afungi-Pemba charter crew, mandatory quarantine and state of emergency rules – A Verdade

4:16 CAT | 08 May 2020

Photo: A Verdade

A LAM Q400 aircraft at the disposal of Total, the oil company leading the LNG project on the Afungi peninsula, maintains an on-demand air-bridge with the city of Pemba.

The passengers are Total workers leaving what is so far considered the country’s Covid-19 epicentre, and, more recently, the health workers who have been carrying out tests at the camps, which currently house 49 infected persons, and which dozens of others have already left, A Verdade reports.

@Verdade has found that the crew consists of five people, including the two pilots, all from Maputo. After each flight, the crew members stay in a hotel in the Cabo Delgado capital, where they interact freely with other citizens.

Contacted by @Verdade about the preventive measures in force on flights between Afungi and Pemba, the Mozambican flag carrier clarified that “it is observing and implementing the measures of Circular No. 02/GM/MTC/2020 (…) In addition, at Pemba Airport, the operator, in the case of scheduled flights, or the charterer, in the case of charter flights between Pemba and Afungi, submits the list of passengers’ names to the health authority to obtain operational authorisation”.

The above-mentioned circular, prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, recommends in its paragraph number 2.2, related to air transport, that “for domestic flight operations, the following measures are adopted: mandatory disinfection of shoes when boarding; temperature measurement and hand disinfection when boarding; withdrawal of meal service on board except for hot drinks and water. The cabin crew on board must wear a mask during the flight, in accordance with the recommendations of the Health Authorities”.

The circular, signed by Minister Janfar Abdulai, which also establishes protocols for the other branches of transport, does not at any time define the procedures to be followed in the case of transport of passengers that are suspected of having Covid-19, as are the Total workers in the Afungi camps.

@Verdade asked the National Director of Public Health if, taking into account the place of departure and the characteristics of passengers, the LAM crew should not also be subject to regular screening tests and observe the mandatory home quarantine for all citizens in Mozambique who have been in places with active cases, as, moreover, Point b of Article 3 of the Presidential Decree of Declaration of the State of Emergency determines.

“We will see what happened with the non-testing of the crews of the Airlines of Mozambique, but testing is planned to ensure that the crew is not a source of infection,” replied Dr Rosa Marlene at Thursday’s press conference (07).

The National Director of Public Health further stated that the LAM crew “observe quarantine, depending on the time they have on land. We can guarantee that they are isolated and not in contact with other people, so as not to transmit the infection, but we will see what is happening and reinforce the measures if we are relaxing”.

Despite the state of emergency, not all Mozambique’s land, sea and air borders have been closed. The airports of Maputo, Beira, Chimoio, Chingodzi, Quelimane, Nampula, Lichinga, Pemba and the Inhambane and Vilanculos aerodromes were left open to national and international traffic by the government.

By Adérito Caldeira

Source: A Verdade