Mozambique: Third wave of Covid-19 may hit its peak in September – O País

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Mozambique: Third wave of Covid-19 may hit its peak in September – O País

3:20 CAT | 06 Jul 2021

File photo: Lusa

Given the current scenario, health authorities in Mozambique expect the Covid-19 third wave to peak within two or three months.

Speaking at the regular Ministry of Health press briefing, Director of Surveys at the National Institute of Health Sérgio Chicumbe assessed the situation in Africa in general and in Mozambique in particular as “worrying”, both in terms of the number of deaths and current 13.2% positivity rate.

“If drastic measures are not taken to control the spread of the disease, the country may register the peak of the third wave in the next two or three months, at both an individual and collective level,” Chicumbe explained.

But, rather than waiting for the government intervention, there must be a generalised awareness of the need to respect prevention measures so that the worst does not happen, he said.

The number of hospital admissions is testing capacity every day. In the last 48 hours, 45 new hospitalisations were registered, raising the number of inpatients to 428, 75% of them in inpatient centres and other hospital units in Maputo city.

In the last 48 hours, 737 individuals tested positive for Covid-19, of whom 723 are Mozambicans, one a foreigner and 13 still to be identified.

These figures are putting the health sector on high alert, especially in the Greater Maputo region and in Tete and Sofala provinces, which have contributed significantly to the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Asked about the possibility of closing infrastructure such as schools, National Director of Public Health Rosa Marlene said that comment would be premature, but thought that schools would remain open.

“When the Covid-19 pandemic entered the country, we didn’t know how to act, so we closed almost everything. But now, with lessons learned, we know that closing schools does not prevent the circulation of the disease,” Benigna Matsinhe said.

“What determines the evolution of Covid-19 has more to do with our behaviour towards the disease. It’s not by closing schools that we improve. What has to be done is to improve adherence to preventative measures. At the moment, we are working with the Ministry of Education and Human Development to reinforce measures in schools,” she added.

Despite the efforts of the health authorities, which have culminated in 533 patients having fully recovered, the country on Monday reported a further eight Covid-19 deaths, all of them of Mozambican nationality, and aged between 24 and 81.

By Inalcide Uamusse