COVID-19 | Mozambique: No need for further restrictive measures

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COVID-19 | Mozambique: No need for further restrictive measures

4:08 CAT | 13 May 2022

File photo: Lusa

Mozambique’s National Health Institute (INS) thinks it would be premature to adjust the restrictive measures against the Covid-19 respiratory disease merely because of an increasing number of cases in neighbouring South Africa.

Contacted by AIM, the INS Director of Surveys, Sergio Chicumbe, said that three factors determine the Mozambican measures to control the pandemic – the positivity rate (the percentage of people tested found to be carrying the coronavirus that causes Covid-19), the rate of hospitalization, and the cumulative occurrence of cases. All these indicators have been very low in recent weeks.

Restrictive measures, said Chicumbe, are intended to protect the National Health Service from an avalanche of hospitalisations, as seriously ill people seek medical help. Most of the restrictive measures imposed by the government have now been lifted, although citizens are urged to continue wearing masks in public places.

“When there are a large number of people hospitalised and at risk of death, the adoption of more restrictive measures is justified”, he said. “But right now, prospects are very favourable, both in Mozambique and in the region”.

“If the positivity rate goes above 10 or 15 per cent, that means there is a high level of transmission”, added Chicumbe. “That could be the moment to reflect on the need to implement measures that mitigate transmission”. (Currently, the positivity rate is well under five per cent – but it is showing signs of rising).

Chicumbe said Mozambique now has accumulated experience of dealing with Covid-19. The health institutions are better prepared and can be quickly mobilized to cope with any eventual fifth wave of the disease.

An increase in the number of cases in South Africa is likely to be reflected in Mozambique, Chicumbe admitted, “but the border surveillance has been established and strengthened, and this is a guarantee that we are following the situation”.

A further factor is the success of Mozambique’s mass vaccination campaign against Covid-19. So far, over 92 per cent of all citizens aged 18 and above have been vaccinated.

“There is a lot of uncertainty about what could happen”, Chicumbe said, “but with good vaccination coverage, and better preparation of the institutions, restrictive measures would not be imposed immediately”.

Despite Chicumbe’s optimism, the number of new Covid-19 cases does seem to be rising somewhat. According to the daily press release from the Ministry of Health for Thursday, there were 19 new cases reported that day, the highest number of new cases in a single 24 hour period since 23 February.

All the new cases were men. Six were Mozambican citizens and 13 were foreigners (the release did not give their nationalities). They ranged in age from five to 71. 13 were diagnosed in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and two each in Maputo city, Maputo province and Gaza.

Since the start of the pandemic, 1,318,662 people have been tested in Mozambique for the coronavirus, 590 of them in the previous 24 hours.

571 of these tests yielded negative results, while the 19 positive cases brought the total number of Covid-19 cases diagnosed in Mozambique to 225,470.

The positivity rate rose from 1.42 per cent on Wednesday to 3.22 per cent on Thursday.

Once again, the Ministry release reported no further deaths from Covid-19, and so the total death toll in Mozambique from the disease remains 2,201.

The situation in the Covid-19 hospital wards remained unchanged. No patients were discharged on Thursday, and no new cases were admitted. The number of people under medical care in the wards remained four (three in Maputo city and one in Manica). Three of these patients were receiving supplementary oxygen.

The Ministry release reported just two recoveries from Covid-19, both of them in Maputo province. The total number of recoveries thus rose to 223,188, which is 98.9 per cent of all Covid-19 cases ever diagnosed in Mozambique.

The number of active cases of Covid-19 rose from 60 on Wednesday to 77 on Thursday. The geographical distribution of the active cases was as follows: Maputo city, 32; Cabo Delgado, 15; Maputo province, 10; Sofala, six; Gaza, five; Nampula, four; Zambezia, two; Manica, two; and Niassa, one. There were no active cases in either Tete or Inhambane.

Source: AIM