Mozambique: Two confirmed dead in Maputo floods
FILE: For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Noel Celis / AFP]
Four Chinese citizens, who recently arrived in Mozambique from China, have placed themselves in voluntary quarantine in a Chinese–owned hotel in Maputo, just in case they might be carrying the potentially lethal coronavirus.
According to a report by the independent television station STV, the presence of the four Chinese has sparked off a panic among the hotel workers, who say they were not informed and have no means of protection against the virus.
But the Maputo City health authorities believe the four acted correctly by staying in their hotel, and not going to the centre for coronavirus victims set up in the Mavalane General Hospital.
Sheila Lobo, the city health director, said the Mavalane centre is for people who show symptoms of the virus. But the four Chinese are not ill, and have no symptoms. However, because the virus has an incubation period that can be as long as fourteen days, they will stay quarantined in the hotel for a fortnight.
“These individuals are not sick, they have no infection”, said Lobo. “Quarantine is for prevention and for controlling individuals. If the individual begins to show symptoms, he is channelled to the health unit”.
The Chinese citizens entered Mozambique on 30 January, three days after the Mozambican authorities suspended the issuing of entry visas for people travelling from China.
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The Mozambican ambassador to China, Maria Gustava, told STV there was no way the four could have obtained entry visas, since the Beijing embassy has been closed since 24 January. She assumed that the four did not need visas, since they were probably residents in Mozambique, returning after spending their holidays in China.
So far there is no confirmed case of any Mozambican, either in Mozambique or in China, becoming infected with the coronavirus. There are about 315 Mozambicans (mostly students) living in China, and Maria Gustava reported that none of them have been infected.
The students are confined to their universities, and the Chinese authorities have postponed the resumption of normal university classes to a date yet to be announced.
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