Mozambique: Coronavirus survey in Beira aims to identify high-risk areas, groups

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Mozambique: Coronavirus survey in Beira aims to identify high-risk areas, groups

3:29 CAT | 08 Sep 2020

File photo: Conselho Municipal da Beira

Health authorities in Mozambique are preparing to carry out a sero-epidemiological survey in the city of Beira, in central Mozambique, to identify the areas and groups at greatest risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, according to local reports.

Sero-epidemiological studies provide information on the proportion of the population that have already been exposed to a virus.

The survey is scheduled to be launched in Beira city on 21 September, said Priscila Filimone, director of social affairs in the province of Sofala, as quoted by the daily newspaper Notícias.

According to Filimone, experts from the Ministry of Health are already on the ground doing surveys to determine the target groups, in addition to continuing to organise sessions to raise awareness among the population in places deemed to be high risk.

Conducting the survey was deemed the best way to improve control of the spread of the disease, in addition to allowing the health sector to “outline effective pandemic prevention measures in the main risk groups” in the city, she said.

The authorities have already identified as the main risk groups people who work in or frequent markets, traffic police, staff of the National Migration Service and parking lot attendants.

The epidemiological survey test indicates whether someone has been exposed or not to the new coronavirus or has been infected in the past seven days, but does not indicate whether the person is infected with the virus at the time the test is carried out. The analysis is based on a blood sample drawn from a fingertip, with a result provided in 15 minutes.

The province of Sofala has had 48 of the 4,557 coronavirus infections so far registered in the country since the announcement of the first case on 22 March. Nationally there have been 27 deaths, while 2,697 patients are deemed to have recovered.

Beira is the fifth city in Mozambique to carry out a sero-epidemiological survey, with Nampula having been the first, followed by Pemba, Maputo and Quelimane, respectively.

Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has already caused at least 889,498 deaths and infected more than 27.1 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a balance sheet made by the French agency AFP.

Source: Lusa