Mozambique. Manica wants children wearing masks

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Mozambique. Manica wants children wearing masks

1:57 CAT | 07 Oct 2020

File photo: Conselho Provincial de Manica / Facebook

Authorities in Manica province, central Mozambique, today launched an appeal for children working as street vendors to wear masks to prevent Covid-19, or risk being again rounded up by the police.

“We must reactivate the programme of collecting children on the streets,” provincial governor Francisca Tomás admitted at the end of a session of the provincial Emergency Operative Committee (COE) on Monday.

Timás says she is surprised by the high number of children without any protection in public squares and informal markets in Chimoio, the capital of Manica, after the state of emergency gave way to the state of calamity in September.

“Easing does not mean not complying with Covid-19 prevention measures. Easing means that we must redouble our efforts and continue to work against the province entering the community transmission phase,” she noted.

The use of a mask is a mandatory, with compliance being reinforced by the authorities.

Police collected 321 children from the streets during the state of emergency in Manica, corporation spokesperson Mateus Mindu told Lusa.

Minors found selling fruit, peanuts, cookies and plastic bags in informal markets and city streets without complying with the Covid-19 prevention measures were taken to police stations.

Once detained, the child vendors, who are usually put on the streets by adults to sell food products and thus contribute to the family income, awaited collection by their guardians who, in turn, were sensitised to Covid-19 counter-measures by the police.

If no-one came to collect them, the children were sent to childcare centres.

Manica has the lowest number of coronavirus infections, registering just two deaths and 10 active cases out of a cumulative total of 109 infections since the beginning of the pandemic.

Mozambique has an accumulated country total of 9,398 cases, with 67 dead and 6,358 registered as fully recovered.

Source: Lusa