Mozambique: No relaxation of Covid/19 measures over Easter – AIM

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Mozambique: No relaxation of Covid/19 measures over Easter – AIM

6:51 CAT | 29 Mar 2021

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican health authorities have warned that the restrictive measures imposed to halt the spread of the Covid-19 respiratory disease will remain in force over the forthcoming Easter holiday.

The National Immigration Service (Senami) announced on Thursday that it expects over 150,000 people to cross the country’s borders over the Easter period. Many of these are likely to be South African tourists.

Speaking at a Friday press conference in Maputo, the Deputy National Director of Public Health, Benigna Matsinhe, said there would be no compromise. “We are still in an emergency period”, she declared. “At no time has the State of Public Calamity been lifted. The restrictive measures have not been lifted, and it is these measures that will prevail during the entire Easter period”.

She said the country should learn from what happened last December, immediately after President Filipe Nyusi relaxed the restrictions, including reopening bars and stalls selling alcoholic drinks, and allowing Christmas and New Year parties to go ahead.

As television crews filmed across the country, caution was thrown to the winds. Almost nobody during the festivities bothered to wear masks, and no attempt at social distancing was made.

The result was a public health disaster – January and February were the worst months in the Mozambican Covid-19 epidemic, with a dramatic increase in the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

“We must take care with regard to any potential relaxation”, sad Matsinhe.

At the same press conference, the deputy director of the National Health Institute (INS), Eduardo Samo Gudo, warned that the world was facing a “third wave” of Covid-19 infection. This meant that Mozambican citizens must exercise the greatest of caution, particularly now that the government has authorised the re-opening of schools.

Samo Gudo agreed with this re-opening, since keeping the schools closed might have a catastrophic impact on children. But all the other restrictive measures should remain in force, particularly in light of the new and far more infectious variants of the coronavírus that are now in circulation.

Source: Lusa