Covid-19: DIC in Matola closed temporarily after positive case, reopened

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Covid-19: DIC in Matola closed temporarily after positive case, reopened

3:45 CAT | 26 Aug 2020

File photo: Noticias

The Directorate of Civil Identification (DIC) in the city of Matola ceased activities temporarily after the discovery of a positive Covid-19 case among the workers of a service provider company, the entity’s spokesman said yesterday.

“We closed the institution when we learned of the positive case and contacted the health institutions, which immediately deployed a team to our facilities,” DIC spokesman Alberto Sumbane told Lusa.

The infected person was diagnosed on Monday, and works for a company which provides maintenance services for the machines which produce identity cards at the DIC in Matola, on the outskirts of the capital.

After notification from the health authorities, the DIC facilities, which had opened its doors on August 17 as part of the gradual easing of restrictions, were disinfected, and the workers who had had contact with the infected person were screened and tested, Sumbane said.

“After we had followed all the procedures, the authorities authorised us to resume activities today [Tuesday],” he said.

The DIC, like most Mozambican public institutions, has been closed for the last five months due to restrictions imposed by the state of emergency imposed to deal with the new coronavirus pandemic.

Mozambique, which has been in a state of emergency for the last five months, has seen a total of 3,508 cases of infection with the new coronavirus, with 21 deaths and 1,809 people reported to have recovered, according to the latest update.

The Covid-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 813,000 lives and infected more than 23.6 million people in 196 countries and territories worldwide, according to the French AFP press agency.

Source: Lusa