Mozambique / Covid-19: More cases in north than south

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Mozambique / Covid-19: More cases in north than south

9:21 CAT | 25 Aug 2021

FILE - For illustration purposes only. File photo of Lichinga Provincial Hospital, in Niassa. [File photo: Rádio Moçambique]

For three out of the last four days, the majority of cases of the respiratory disease Covid-19 diagnosed in Mozambique were reported from the four provinces north of the Zambezi.

According to a Monday press release from the Ministry of Health, of the 343 cases reported that day, 51.6 per cent were from the north – 129 in Niassa, 35 in Nampula, eight in Zambezia and five in Cabo Delgado.

The seven provinces of the centre and south accounted for 48.4 per cent of the cases. Most of these – 116 – were in Maputo city. There were 38 cases in Gaza, six in Maputo province, four in Inhambane, one in Tete, one in Manica, and none at all in Sofala.

This is radically different from the picture in July, when the Covid-19 statistics were dominated by the seven provinces south of the Zambezi. The entire central belt of Tete, Manica and Sofala, previously a matter of major concern, on Monday only provided two cases.

Since the start of the pandemic, 829,467 people have been tested for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, 2,226 of them in the previous 24 hours. 1,883 of these tests gave negative results, while 343 people tested positive for the coronavírus. This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases diagnosed in Mozambique to 143,127.

Of the new cases diagnosed on Monday, 184 were women or girls and 159 were men or boys. Throughout August a majority of cases have been female – reversing the gender balance of the earlier months of the pandemic. 56 cases were children under the age of 15 and 38 were over 65 years old. In eight cases, no age information was available.

The national positivity rate (the proportion of those tested found to be infected by the virus) on Monday was 15.4 per cent, slightly higher than Sunday’s 14.9 per cent. The rates for the preceding few days were 15.9 per cent on Saturday, 16.1 per cent on Friday, and 19.3 per cent on Thursday.

The provinces with the highest positivity rates on Monday were Gaza (25.7 per cent), Manica (25 per cent – but on a very small sample of four tests, one of which was positive), Zambezia (24.2 per cent), Niassa (23.7 per cent), and Maputo city (17.4 per cent). The lowest rates were found in Sofala, with no positive cases, Cabo Delgado (2.5 per cent) and Tete (three per cent),

The Ministry release also reported eight Covid-9 deaths. These new victims were six men and two women, all Mozambican citizens and aged between 42 and 74. Seven of these deaths occurred in Maputo city and one in Manica. This brought the total Covid-19 death toll in Mozambique to 1,808.

In the same 24 hour period, 24 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital (19 in Maputo, two in Niassa, and one each in Tete, Manica and Matola), and 15 new patients were admitted (six in Maputo, five in Nampula, two in Niassa and two in Manica).

The number of people under medical care in the Covid-19 treatment facilities fell from 207 on Sunday to 190 on Monday. 112 of these patients (58.9 per cent) were in Maputo. There were also 16 patients in Nampula, 13 in Matola, 12 in Zambezia, 11 in Niassa, seven in Inhambane, five in Gaza, five in Manica, four in Tete, three in Sofala and two in Cabo Delgado.

Of those hospitalised, 104 are men and 86 are women. 90 are over 60 years old, and 49 are in the 45-59 year age bracket. The clinical condition of 75 is described as “moderate”, while 95 are seriously ill, and 20 are in critical condition. Those 20 are under intensive care, while 161 patients are receiving supplementary oxygen.

The Ministry also reported that on Monday 272 people were declared fully recovered from Covid-19, all of them in Gaza. The total number of recoveries now stands at 126,313, or 88.3 per cent of all those ever diagnosed with Covid-19 in Mozambique.

The number of active Covid-19 cases rose from 14,939 on Sunday to 15.002 on Monday. The geographical distribution of the active cases was as follows: Maputo city, 5,192 (34.6 per cent of the total); Maputo province, 4,984; Nampula, 1,205; Inhambane, 1,157; Niassa, 859; Zambezia, 692; Gaza, 358; Cabo Delgado, 347; Manica, 118; Tete, 46; and Sofala, 44.

Source: AIM