Mozambique: Gilberto Mendes calls for rational physical exercise on public roads

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Mozambique: Gilberto Mendes calls for rational physical exercise on public roads

3:13 CAT | 25 May 2020

Photo: O País

The Secretary of State for Sports, Gilberto Mendes, has expressed concern about people who exercise in proximity with others without complying with the preventative measures recommended for the new coronavirus such as social distancing and the use of masks.

Mendes says that this attitude can propitiate more extreme measures, as a way to contain the spread of the pandemic by Mozambicans.

“It has been embarrassing to see people exercising in crowds, without respecting prevention measures. We have seen physical exercises where people do push-ups and squats hand-in-hand or supporting each other, passing droplets and sweat between them,” a worried Gilberto Mendes said. “This is one of the most elementary ways of transmitting the virus.”

Even so, the Secretary of State for Sport recognises that physical exercise is important and even paramount in facing this pandemic. But he warns: “If [during exercise] we neglect the other elements of prevention, such as social distancing and wearing masks, this could lead to the aggravation of the prevention measures that the government has already decreed.” If people are to continue to exercise in public spaces, they must avoid crowding and comply with preventative measures so as not to put lives at risk.

In fact, for Mendes, sports is one of the worst-hit activities, because while others continue, albeit not in quite the same way, “sports entered Level 4, a complete ‘lockdown’ phase, where we cannot exercise our activity at all. Any relaxation will depend a lot on our reaction to preventative measures”, he said.

The Secretary of State for Sports also announced that he intends to help the many sports people whose livelihoods have been compromised by the coronavirus.

In this time of pandemic, sport is also called upon to make its contribution to prevention. For example, the Mozambican Tennis Federation has donated masks, alcohol and soap to help the population of Cabo Delgado fight the pandemic.

Federation president Virgílio Tivane says that Cabo Delgado was chosen because the province is the locus of so many cases. The province indeed continues to top the log, with the focus on the Afungi camps in Palma.

By Elísio Uamusse

Source: O País