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National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene. [Photo: TVM]
At least 23 people were in direct contact with the first Mozambican citizen diagnosed with the pandemic respiratory disease, Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health.
This patient is a 75 year old Mozambican who lives in Maputo, and returned from London on 20 March. He tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.
Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Monday, the National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene said the 23 known contacts of the patient are currently in home quarantine and are being monitored by the health authorities.
The 75 year old man himself is no longer in isolation, because he only shows mild symptoms of the disease. “In this context, and in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), his isolation is not justified”, said Marlene.
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Meanwhile, a second Mozambican living abroad has been diagnosed with Covid-19. Marlene told reporters he is a man who lives and works in Portugal. The first case, detected last week, was a Mozambican doctor living in Spain. Thus the total number of Mozambicans diagnosed with the disease now stands at three – one in the country, and two in the diaspora.
Marlene said that the Mozambican authorities have screened 333,978 people, Mozambicans and foreigners, who entered Mozambique from countries with cases of coronavirus. 55 suspect cases, nine of them in the previous 24 hours, were tested for the disease. Testing capacity is currently concentrated in Maputo, but the authorities hope to expand it in the near future to the centre and north of the country.
There is some concern about the people who met with the Mayor of Maputo, Eneas Comiche, who returned from London on 13 March, after a meeting at which Prince Albert of Monaco was also present. The prince tested positive for Covid-19 shortly afterwards,
Comiche, and the members of his delegation, did not go into voluntary quarantine until last Thursday. At the time of Comiche’s return, the United Kingdom was not on the Health Ministry’s list of countries with major Covid-19 outbreaks. Nonetheless, the number of British cases was already growing sharply, and it would have been a wise move for Comiche to have gone into self-isolation immediately on his return.
In the six days between his return and his quarantine, reports the independent newsheet “Carta de Mocambique”, Comiche attended several meetings, including meetings of the Maputo Municipal Council and of the Political Commission of the ruling Frelimo Party, chaired by President Filipe Nyusi.
The newsheet says that Comiche’s grandchildren were subsequently tested for Covid-19, and that some senior members of Frelimo who had met with the mayor are also being tested. Comiche himself has been tested, but the results of the rest are not yet known.
Maputo City Council continues to defend the mayor, saying that he complied with all the required health procedures on his arrival at Maputo international airport. He went into quarantine on the day that the United Kingdom was added to the Health Ministry’s list of high risk countries.
A similar problem has arisen with the Vice-Chancellor of Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), Orlando Quilambo, who returned from Lisbon on 15 March, and continued with his normal professional duties. His justification was similar to that of Comiche – when he returned to Maputo, Portugal was not yet on the list of high risk countries. Some of those who were with Quilambo in Portugal, including the well-known poet Filimone Meigas, did go into voluntary quarantine.
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