Mozambique: Nyusi announces end of public calamity – AIM report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Nyusi announces end of public calamity – AIM report

10:16 CAT | 21 Apr 2022

Image: Noticias

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday announced the end of the State of Public Calamity that was decreed in 2020 in response to the pandemic of the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

This was possible because of a dramatic improvement in the Covid-19 situation. Over the past eight weeks, the number of new Covid-19 cases reported in Mozambique has fallen from about 50 a day to an average of just three a day. Only 0.3 per cent of the country’s hospital beds are now occupied by Covid-19 patients.

In the same eight week period, the positivity rate (the percentage of people tested found to be carrying the coronavirus that causes Covid-19) had fallen from three per cent to 0.4 per cent.

According to the Ministry of Health statistics, since the start of the pandemic, only 2,201 people have died of Covid-19 – a figure that is much better than the death rates in most African countries, and than the disastrous death tolls recorded in the United States, Britain and most European counrries.

Nyusi attributed Mozambique’s success to mass vaccination, and to general compliance with the hygiene measures advocated by the government (such as regular washing of hands and wearing of masks in public places).

To date about 13.7 million Mozambicans aged 18 and above have been vaccinated against Covid-19, which is 90 per cent of the target figure. That leaves about one and a half million people who are not vaccinated, and Nyusi urged them to make their way to the vaccination posts as soon as possible.

Addressing the nation from the presidential office in Maputo, Nyusi said that although the government decree on measures against Covid-19 has now been repealed, this did not mean the end of the pandemic.

Several hygiene measures thus remain in force. All citizens (except children under the age of 11) must wear masks when travelling on public transport, and when in closed spaces. There is no longer a mask requirement for open spaces, but citizens are strongly advised to wear masks anywhere where social distancing is impractical.

Anyone entering Mozambique (again, with the exception of children under the age of 11) must present at the border a valid vaccination certificate, or a negative PCR test for Covid-19 taken within the previous 72 hours.

Anyone infected with Covid-19 must go into isolation for seven days, but those who have been in contact with infected people are no longer subject to quarantine.

Restrictions on the number of people who can attend cultural, sporting or religious events have been lifted, with the exception of funerals of people who died from Covid-19. There is still a limit of 50 people for these funerals.

Nyusi said the prompt reaction of the government to the pandemic, and the willingness of the public to accept restrictive measures “limited the loss of life, and avoided the collapse of the Mozambican health system”.

He warned that, should the Covid-19 situation deteriorate again, the government will not hesitate to re-impose restrictive measures in the interest of public safety.

Watch the VOA report.