Covid-19 tests to start in Nampula next week- AIM report

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Covid-19 tests to start in Nampula next week- AIM report

9:40 CAT | 12 Jun 2020

FILE PHOTO: For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The epidemiological survey in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula, based on rapid testing methodology, will start next week, and should help identify foci of transmission of the Covid-19 respiratory disease, announced the general director of the National Health Institute (INS), Ilesh Jani, on Thursday (June 11).

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s daily press conference on the Covid-19 situation, Jani said the rapid tests are a mechanism that might help cut the community transmission of the disease.

In the initial stage, this survey is restricted to Nampula City, the only place in the country where community transmission has been confirmed to date. But it could be extended to other parts of the country, “if conditions require this”, added Jani.

The rapid test takes the form of a blood test plus a questionnaire. It is not intended for clinical diagnosis, but to assess how far the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has spread in the city. Whereas diagnostic coronavirus tests detect the genetic material of the virus, showing whether the patient has an active Covid-19 infection, and should thus go into isolation, the rapid tests detect anti-bodies and thus show whether the patient is, or has been, in contact with the coronavirus.

Jani said the 60 doctors promised by the Cuban government to assist in the Mozambican fight against Covid-19 have not arrived yet due to the difficulty in arranging air transport. International air transport is largely grounded, because of the pandemic, and Jani said the Mozambican and Cuban governments are looking into “the best alternative for transporting the Cuban medical team”.

Updating reporters on the current state of the pandemic, Jani said that, since the crisis began, 16.035 people have been tested for coronavirus in Mozambique, 491 of them in the previous 24 hours.

Of the samples tested, 228 came from Cabo Delgado province, 71 from Inhambane, 60 from Zambezia, 60 from Maputo city, 36 from Maputo province, 25 from Nampula, 10 from Sofala, and one from Niassa.

474 of these tests were negative, and 17 tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the number of positive cases to 489. All are Mozambican citizens. Ten are men or boys, and seven are women or girls. Two are children under 14 years of age, seven are adolescents aged between 15 and 24, and eight are adults aged between 25 and 44.

Eight of the new cases are in Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado province, two are in Nampula city, one is in Gaza, and six are in various districts of Inhambane province. Jani said all the new cases have been instructed to undergo home isolation, in line with standard Health Ministry procedure, and their contacts are being traced.

Three Covid-19 patients remain hospitalised in the isolation unit in Nampula city. Jani said three others have been discharged from the unit, but must remain in home isolation until the infection clears.

Six other cases have made a full recovery, he said, bringing the number of patients who have recovered from the disease to 144.

The breakdown of positive cases by province, as of Thursday, is the following: Cabo Delgado, 172; Nampula, 146; Maputo city, 73; Maputo Province, 56; Sofala, 13; Inhambane, 10; Niassa, five; Tete, five; Gaza, four; Manica, three; Zambezia, two.

But 87 cases in Cabo Delgado have recovered, while there have been no recoveries reported from Nampula. Nampula thus has the largest number of active cases – 146 – of any province.

The basic Covid-19 statistics for Mozambique are currently: 489 confirmed case, of whom 144 have made a full recovery, and 342 are considered active cases. Three Covid-19 patients have died, two from the disease itself, and one from an unrelated pathology.

Source: AIM