Covid-19: 350 Mozambicans stranded abroad

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Covid-19: 350 Mozambicans stranded abroad

4:53 CAT | 04 Aug 2020

Photo: TVM

About 350 Mozambicans are currently stranded abroad by Covid-19 restrictions, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, Verônica Macamo, has said.

“We have made a great effort to bring all our fellow citizens home, [but] with closed borders it is a little complicated, because it does not depend only on us,” Macamo is quoted as saying by today’s edition of ‘O País’.

The group, which is dispersed throughout several countries around the world, including Portugal, includes people visiting family and seeking medical treatment, as well as a student who has completed training.

“We had, for example, some sick people in India. Some lost their lives during this period, and bringing them back [to Mozambique] was a major endeavour,” she said.

Last week, Mozambicans stranded in Portugal returned on a humanitarian flight, and this Monday, another 22 Mozambican students arrived in the country from the Republic of China.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation was speaking on the sidelines of the signing of legal instruments endorsing the sending of medical supplies to Mozambique. The Republic of Japan donation, valued at around 300 million meticais, is part of that country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Mozambique.

Mozambique, which has been in a state of emergency for the past four months, had, by Monday (August 3), recorded a total of 1,973 positive cases of Covid-19, including 14 fatalities and 676 people reported to have recovered, according to the latest updates.

In an address to the nation on Wednesday, the last day of the state of emergency, which had been extended for three consecutive times, the maximum provided for in the Constitution, Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi called for Covid-19 restrictions to continue to be observed, with the promise of an announcement regarding next steps soon.

Source: Lusa