Covid 19: 21 cases

REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE

______________________

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

PRESS RELEASE

First of all, I would like to invite everyone to observe very strictly the measures established by Presidential Decree No. 11/2020 of 30 March, through which His Excellency Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of the Republic, declared the State of Emergency for reasons of public calamity. The success of the fight against COVID-19 depends on the attitude and behavior of each one of us, individually and collectively.

In the last 24 hours, 72,840 new cases were registered worldwide, corresponding to an increase of 3.9%, totaling 1,856,798 cases.

At the global level, there is a cumulative of 114,312 deaths, of which 5,353 in the last 24 hours with a slight increase. It is important to mention that we have a record of 428 275 recovered cases.

The African continent recorded, since the beginning of the pandemic, 14,524 cases, 838 in the last 24 hours (increase of 5.7%) and 788 deaths. It is important to note that 2,583 patients recovered from COVID-19.

Regarding passengers in quarantine, we have a cumulative of 10,325 people, with 1,910 people being followed up.

In Mozambique, until today, April 13, 2020, 683 suspected cases have been tested, of which 4 in the last 24 hours. Of the new cases tested, all were negative. Therefore, our country continues to have 21 positive cases, 13 of which are local and 8 imported.

The Ministry of Health reiterates the need for strict compliance with preventive measures, namely:

• Wear the mask whenever you are in places of great crowds and on public transport. We all can and must manufacture masks in our homes, in small and medium tailoring and sewing establishments. The mask can be made using pieces of fabric (cloth, sweaters or capulana) and sew with a sewing machine and / or sewing by hand or alternatively seamless (using nipples or rubber bands).

• Wash your hands several times with soap and water or ash and / or disinfectant;

• Whenever you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with your arm bent into a V shape and then wash your hands with soap and water;

 

We want to emphasize that homemade masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand washing with water, soap or ash or the use of 70% alcohol.

I would like to use this opportunity to inform you that MISAU does not recommend the use of gloves to protect yourself from COVID-19 as they do not reduce the risk of infection if you come into contact with contaminated objects or surfaces and then touch your mouth, nose or eyes . The use of gloves can create a false sense of security that can neglect other measures, such as hand hygiene.

I want to invite everyone to observe the social distance measures. We must all stay at home with the exception of those whose work activity does not allow compliance with this measure.

At this press conference, Dr. Eduardo Samo Gudo, Deputy Director-General of INS and Dr. César Tembe, Director of Prevention and Mitigation at the National Institute for Disaster Management, INGC, accompanied me.

Maputo, April 13, 2020