Covid-19: Control measures may be revised

The prevention measures approved by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Mozambique may be readjusted in the coming days, in response to a possible worsening of the epidemiological situation in the country. The director-general of the National Institute of Health (INS), Ilesh Jani, said that the sector was closely following the evolution of the health situation in the country and in the region. He warned that, despite the country going through a period of low transmission, with a positivity rate below one percent, a fact allied to the reduction of hospitalizations and deaths, the situation deserves constant attention. He said that Mozambique had been taking restrictive measures based on the principles of proportionality, reasonableness, gradualism and the best available scientific evidence, and the restrictions in place correspond to the level of the pandemic.

“We are monitoring the various epidemiological indicators and the system used to define the restriction measures and, if the trend is for the epidemic to worsen, clearly the measures could be readjusted,” he said.

He added that South Africa, especially the province of Gauteng, which borders Mozambique, was beginning to register a significant increase in the number of cases, though without this being reflected in any rise in hospitalisations. The increase in cases in this region comes at a time when a new Covid strain, Omicron, was discovered, with two suspected cases in Mozambique. Ilesh Jani said that national health authorities had stepped up controls at entry points, including testing for Covid-19, adding that Mozambique was further strengthening genomic surveillance as regards new variants.

In parallel, the authorities are accelerating the mass vaccination of intended target groups, intensifying surveillance of Covid-19’s prevention measures and preparing the health system for an eventual ‘fourth wave’ of the disease. The Delta variant, discovered in India, continues to dominate the Covid-19 cases reported in recent months in the country, Jani reported.

Mozambique, he said, already has the capacity for sequencing the genome of the new coronavirus, having completed the training of health professionals and laboratory technicians and allocated the necessary equipment. Meanwhile, health authorities warn that the number of infections has been on the rise. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, 47 individuals tested positive for Covid-19, with three new hospital admissions recorded and 24 patients designated ‘recovered’. The country had, by Wednesday, seven Covid hospitalisations, all in the city of Maputo; 111 active cases and a cumulative of 1,941 fatalities due to the virus.