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Image: MISAU, July 13 2020
Despite a rise in the number of cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease in Mozambique, the positivity rate – the percentage of those tested who are positive for Covid-19 – remains essentially unchanged. Presenting the weekly epidemiological summary at a Maputo press conference on Monday (July 13), the deputy director of the National Health Institute (INS), Eduardo Samo Gudo, said the number of positive cases per million inhabitants had increased from 32 the previous week to 39 now. [Full MISAU July 13 epidemiological summary available HERE]
However, the national positivity rate remains much the same at three per cent. But two provinces have much higher rates. In Cabo Delgado the rate has risen from 6.1 per cent the previous week to 8.6 per cent. In Nampula, the rate is now 9.6 per cent – which is a decline from the 11.5 per cent of the previous week.
The two provincial capitals, Pemba and Nampula City, are the only parts of the country where, according to the Health Ministry, Covid-19 has made the transition from an epidemic with foci of transmission to an epidemic with community transmission (which is much more difficult to control). Samo Gudo was optimistic that the epidemic in Nampula city is slowing down.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants varies from 16 in Maputo city and 13.1 in Cabo Delgado to just 0.5 in Zambezia and 0.4 in Manica.
Men account for 65 per cent of all Covid-19 cases, and women for only 35 per cent. The age group most affected is those between 25 and 34 years old, who account for 36 per cent of all cases. Unlike the situation in Europe, elderly people account for only a fairly small minority of cases. 6.8 per cent are over the age of 60.
Throughout the pandemic, the majority of Mozambican cases who tested positive for Covid-19 have been asymptomatic. Although the number of cases showing symptoms (mostly mild to moderate) has increased in recent weeks, they are still outnumbered by the asymptomatic cases. Overall, 62 per cent of the cases are asymptomatic, and only 38 per cent display symptoms.
The epidemiological report concluded that the areas that require priority attention for strengthening preventive measures against Covid-19 are Pemba and Palma in Cabo Delgado; Nampula city; the Zambezia provincial capital, Quelimane; Cahora Bassa district in Tete; and the Kampfumo municipal district, in the centre of Maputo city.
The National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene, told the press conference that, since the first case was diagnosed on 22 March, 40,681 people have been tested for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, 913 of them in the previous 24 hours. 651 of these tests were administered inn public facilities, and 262 in private laboratories.
Of these samples, 280 were from Maputo city, 205 from Cabo Delgado, 185 from Maputo province, 93 from Sofala, 77 from Gaza, 36 from Niassa, 22 from Zambezia, 10 from Tete, and five from Inhambane.
851 of the tests were negative, but the remaining 62 were positive for the coronavirus (59 of these were tested in the public sector, and three in private laboratories). This brings the total number of positive cases to 1,219.
60 of the new cases are Mozambicans, and two are foreign citizens (one from Rwanda and one from South Africa). 36 are men or boys and 26 are women or girls. 12 are children under 15 years of age, five are adolescents aged between 15 and 24, 25 are adults aged between 25 and 64, and four are over 65 years old.
12 of the new cases were from Pemba, and 21from Maputo city. There were 24 cases from Maputo province – eight in Matola city, five in Boane district, one in Namaacha, on the border with Eswatini, and ten from Ressano Garcia, on the border with South Africa. There were also four cases in Gaza (three in Xai-Xai city and one in Bilene), and one in Ile district in Zambezia.
In line with standard Ministry of Health procedure, all 62 new cases have been placed in home isolation, and their contacts are being traced.
Marlene said a further five Covid-19 patients (three in Niassa, one in Cabo Delgado and one in Nampula) have made a full recovery. This brings the total number of recoveries to 369.
Five Covid-19 patients remain hospitalized in isolation wards – two in Maputo City, one in Matola, one in Gaza and one in Inhambane.
As of Monday, the geographical breakdown by province of positive Covid-19 cases was as follows: Cabo Delgado, 344; Nampula, 331; Maputo city, 201; Maputo province, 162; Tete, 39; Inhambane, 37; Zambezia, 30; Sofala, 28; Gaza, 23; Niassa, 16; Manica, eight. Thus 55 per cent of all positive cases are from Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
The basic Covid-19 statistics for Mozambique were, by Monday (July 13): 1,219 confirmed cases, of whom 369 have made a full recovery, and 839 are active cases. Eleven Covid-19 patients have died, nine from the disease itself, and two from other pathologies.
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