Renamo calls for Mozambique borders to be closed; Health Minister calls for calm, warns of economic and social impact

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Renamo calls for Mozambique borders to be closed; Health Minister calls for calm, warns of economic and social impact

2:11 CAT | 10 Mar 2020

Armindo Tiago, Mozambique's Minister of Health. [Photo: A Verdade]

Renamo on Monday (09) called for the closure of Mozambique’s borders with South Africa, but the country’s Minister of Health responded that there are international criteria on “when a border is closed” and warned of the “economic and social impact” of such a decision. Mozambique’s neighbour, which has confirmed seven cases of the new coronavirus, is the main source of most of the products consumed in Mozambique and one of the main destinations for our exports.

Aligning itself with the alarmism that has been stimulated by the lack of information on social media, Mozambique’s biggest opposition party, via its spokesman, José Manteigas, asked: “Being such a deadly virus, several countries have closed their borders, but Mozambique continues to leave its borders in the hands of divine providence, even in the face of such imminent danger. Given this very threatening scenario, Mozambicans and Renamo are concerned about the fragility of our borders, devoid of control [screenings] aimed at preventing the entry of this virus into our country.”

On the sidelines of a class on “coronavirus prevention measures”, which he gave at Francisco Manyanga High School, the Minister of Health told reporters that: “the Government of Mozambique works on the basis of international agreements, one of the elements of which is the so-called International Health Regulation, which recommends, on the basis of a set of criteria, when a border is to be closed.”

“Closing borders is an extreme measure that should only be used in the face of a risk that could possibly create a calamity situation. This is not such a case. Even now, China has not closed its borders. It has quarantined some cities, but closing borders has an economic and social impact,” Minister Tiago explained.

Tiago also revealed that the application of quarantine measures to travellers from certain countries is defined by a technical group from the World Health Organisation “on a daily basis”, and that, at the moment, “only citizens who have recently visited China, Italy, South Korea, Iran, Germany and France must be quarantined”.

A renowned Mozambican immunologist recently drew @Verdade’s attention to the fact that “none of the cases that tested positive outside China were detected at border posts. Of all the cases imported globally, how many crossed the borders? All of them. The probability of detection is small,’ he said.

By Adérito Caldeira

Source: A Verdade