Mozambique: Health authorities warn of the risk of a third wave

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Mozambique: Health authorities warn of the risk of a third wave

3:45 CAT | 04 Mar 2021

Colourised scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (blue) infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (green), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. [Credit: NIAID]

The director of the National Institute of Health (INS) of Mozambique, Ilesh Jani, has warned that the country could face a third, “more intense” wave of Covid-19 if there is any relaxation of preventive measures.

“In our view, the relaxation of restrictive measures could result in a third wave, with even more intense transmission,” Jani said on Wednesday at a meeting between President Nyusi and representatives of Mozambican sports clubs seeking the resumption of activities interrupted by the new coronavirus.

Ileshjani.not_ — *Doctor Ilseh Jani. [Photo: Noticias]*

The INS director said that deaths and infections from the new coronavirus were showing “signs of stabilization” recently, after the rise registered in January.

“The epidemiological situation in the country, including in the metropolitan region of Maputo, tends to stabilise, probably due to the restrictive measures taken,” Jani said.

Even so, he continued, the country continues to have a high (20%) positivity rate, with “one in every five samples tested coming back positive for Covid-19”.

In February, the country recorded more hospitalisations and more deaths than in January, and a “significant number” of deaths is still expected in March, he added, explaining: “Generally, the peak of deaths happens a little later than the peak of cases.”

Doctor Ilesh Jani pointed out that the lethality rate of the virus in Mozambique is 1.1%, lower than the 2.5% average for the continent. “We think that the medical care we have provided as a country plays an important role in that rate,” he said.

Curfew must be maintained and, moreover, extended to other cities – Avertino Barreto

Epidemiologist Avertino Barreto, one of best known in the country, also warned of a possible third wave if there is any relaxation of preventive measures.

“One mustn’t count one’s chickens before they hatch, because if we do not take precautions now, in two or three months’ time, we will have a third wave,” Barreto said in an interview with television channel STV.

The expert, a member part of the government’s Covid-19 Scientific and Technical Commission, said that the country should not “relax now, not even a little”.

“I am of the opinion that the curfew must be maintained and, moreover, extended to other cities where the situation was believed to be under control, such as Nampula, Beira and Quelimane,” Barreto urged.

Avertinobarretostv — *Doctor Avertino Barreto. [Photo: STV]*

Avertino Barreto said that the second wave of Covid-19 that the country had experienced since the beginning of the year was due to several factors, among them, the way the country’s “elites” had celebrated the Christmas and New Year season.

In his opinion, the elites had “contributed greatly” to the spread of the disease. “Whoever it was throwing big parties, it wasn’t our impoverished [citizen], selling tomatoes,” he said, in an allusion to the informal street commerce on which a good part of the population depends.

Mozambique’s President Nyusi is this Thursday addressing the nation about the direction that the country will take regarding Covid-19 prevention, a month after decreeing a curfew in the greater Maputo region and announcing the tightening of restrictions.

Mozambique has so far registered 668 Covid-19 deaths from among its 60,395 cases, with 72% recovered and 184 currently hospitalised, 73% of them in the city of Maputo.

Source: Lusa