Mozambique: Third wave of pandemic inevitable, but can be delayed

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Mozambique: Third wave of pandemic inevitable, but can be delayed

7:21 CAT | 28 May 2021

Photo: O Pais

A third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic will inevitably hit Mozambique, and might prove more severe than the second wave, warned the Deputy General Director of the National Health Institute (INS), Eduardo Samo Gudo, on Wednesday night.

Interviewed by the independent television station STV, immediately after President Filipe Nyusi had announced the easing of several of the restrictive measures against Covid-19, Samo Gudo said Mozambique might feel the impact of the third wave within one or two months.

Since the third wave is already present in neighbouring South Africa, there is little chance that Mozambique will be able to avoid it.

The battle now, said Samo Gudo, is to delay the onset of the third wave as much as possible and to flatten the infection curve. This was feasible because the main indicators – such as the number of new cases, hospitalisations, and deaths – show that the Mozambican epidemic is coming under control.

This was, however, no reason for complacency. Samo Gudo argued that many of the restrictive measures imposed by the government must remain in place. “Relaxing all the measures could lead to a new acceleration in cases”, he said. “It could anticipate the third wave, which would be a more severe wave, leading to shutting down the schools again, and closing all the economic activities that have been reopened”.

Even when all the preventive measures advocated by the health authorities are followed, the third wave would still eventually hit Mozambique. “We don’t know when, and we don’t know its scale”, said Samo Gudo. “So our task now is to delay its appearance”.

“The data show that the interval between waves is between two and a half and three months”, he continued. “If we look at our numbers, it’s been four weeks since the second wave ended. On this logic, we will have about two months before the onset of a third wave”.

Samo Gudo believed that “caution and gradualism” in relaxing the Covid-19 preventive measures would ensure that the transition to the “new normal” will occur with low levels of infection. A low level of transmission for long periods would slow down the coming of the third wave.

Source: AIM