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Mozambique to tighten border controls: Covid test + International Travel Certificate?
3:52 CAT | 09 Oct 2020
More than 3,500 people crossed the Mozambican border with South Africa via Ressano Garcia (pictured) in the first five days of the reopening the borders, mainly for commercial purposes.
- Mozambican authorities are tightening border control measures after discovering that some travellers are using fake Covid-19 tests to leave the country.
The Ministry of Health confirms that false negative Covid-19 tests are being used for travel purposes, just days after the reopening of the borders within the scope of the relaxation of restrictions imposed by the new coronavirus.
The entry and exit of people is conditional on the presentation of a negative Covid-19 test carried out in the previous 72 hours.
Information indicates that false Covid-19 tests are being sold at the Mozambican border post of Ressano Garcia to anyone who wants to enter South Africa.
Tighter measures
“We have cases of citizens with positive results who falsify the results. Due to the high risk that we are seeing from falsifying results, this is where we will back-track,” National Director of Public Health Rosa Marlene warns.
In future, the presentation of a negative Covid-19 test result will no longer be sufficient to leave the country, and must henceforth be accompanied by an international travel certificate, which may be issued at the border post itself.
“The first thing [necessary] is the certification from the laboratories, which depends solely and exclusively on the Ministry of Health. And the second thing is the issuance of international travel certificates, which depends on the Ministry of Health, but with shared responsibility with the Ministry of the Interior,” Rosa Marlene explained.
“Because it is also about inspection and ensuring that all legal procedures and standards set forth by the Mozambican government are complied with, and that the citizens, whoever they are, are not breaking any rules,” she added.
Investigation needed
In recent days, several institutions have issued apparently contradictory statements about the alleged false tests.
“If there are indeed these false tests, it is necessary to investigate who is behind this – if it is private clinics or the national health service,” Baltazar Fael, from the Centre for Public Integrity, says.
Fael also argues that there must “control by public entities over private ones in this process”, and that the results of Covid-19 tests should have identifying marks that make it impossible to change anything.
Legal formalisation
Concerning the obligation to present an international travel certificate, Fael says that a decision on the matter cannot be verbal.
“There is no legal basis here, it seems to me. If the Ministry of Health starts work on formalising the situation and makes it known to everyone, I think that, yes, such a measure could be introduced to prevent these false test situations from occurring.”
Source: Deutsche Welle
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