Mozambique: Hélder Martins advises against sanitary cordon in Maputo city and says that children are less prone to COVID-19 – O País

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Mozambique: Hélder Martins advises against sanitary cordon in Maputo city and says that children are less prone to COVID-19 – O País

3:08 CAT | 25 Jan 2021

Photo: O País

Hélder Martins says that a sanitary cordon to control Covid-19 in Maputo (city) would be costly and ineffective.

The former Health Minister of Mozambique (1975-1980) and current member of the Covid-19 Technical-Scientific Commission for Pandemic Prevention and Response also says that children up to 11 years old should not be obliged to wear masks, because they are low transmitters, are not very infectious, and rarely die from Covid-19.

Martins gave ‘O País’ an exclusive interview about Covid-19, a subject on which, as a member of the Technical-Scientific Commission dealing with the disease, he has a lot to say.

Hélder Martins spoke about the capital, Maputo, the current epicentre of Covid-19 in the country, and regarding the care to be taken with minors.

What care should be taken with children or students who have chronic illnesses?

Students who have chronic illnesses, of course, should be treated with special care. But [there are] not many. The school population at primary level is about six million. Most do not have these problems. Most are in good health.

Those who have problems need specific care depending on their problem. For example, asthmatics need specific care. It is difficult to give a generalised response.

What should be borne in mind is that there are some children who require some special care [and] that must be indicated by the doctor. Sometimes a medical certificate may be necessary to tell the school that the child needs special care.

Are there any consequences of wearing the mask?

There have been some people on social media who come up with theories that wearing the mask for a long time would cause oxygenation difficulty. The mask can be a small obstacle. The mask has advantages, but I usually use a visor because it no longer has these problems. The mask is easier to find on the street, made of cloth, but the visor can also be improvised. A visor can be made from a plastic bottle. The first visor I made was from a Coca Cola bottle.

Speaking of masks, at what age can the mask be used?

There is a decision by the technical-scientific commission on this. It is from 11 years old on.

All of this is because children under 11 are very low transmitters. Children, in general, are infected by adults. Children are much less infectious. It seems that in children’s cells there is a molecule that is not very well developed and that is where the virus tries to install itself, and ends up not having this space in children. What’s more, children don’t normally die “from” Covid-19; they die “with” Covid-19. Those who die, die from other diseases.

Would the sanitary cordon be a solution to curb Covid-19 in the city of Maputo?

The sanitary cordon has very complicated logistics and extremely low efficiency. These [sanitary cordons] are highly expensive measures, involving Defence and Security Forces, who are very busy with other matters, in Cabo Delgado and the centre of the country. Let them be. It is better not to talk about a sanitary cordon.

Source: O País