Mozambique announces first case of child with covid-19

By Jorge dos Santos*

A child between the ages of 5 and 14 has been infected with the new coronavirus, the National Director of Public Health in Mozambique, Rosa Marlene, announced on sunday. She was infected by her father who has been in isolation for a week, Marlene said.

The child, who has no symptoms at all, is one of six new cases, bringing the total number of those infected with the new coronavirus in Mozambique to 76,  which 68 are local transmission while 8 were imported before the borders were closed.

So far there have been no deaths and 9 recovered, which means that there are 67 active cases of covid-19 in the country, Marlene said.

Meanwhile Mozambique remains in a state of emergency which ends on April 30th and there are strong indications that it will be extended.

As said the director general of the National Institute of Health, Illesh Jani, the life in Mozambique will not go back to normal, when the state of emergency is scheduled to end, pointing to the trend of increasing cases in the country, as well as the experience in other countries where the initial state of emergency period had expired.

However, the introduction of so-called 'level four' restrictive measures in Mozambique, effectively a lockdown, would be catastrophic for the vulnerable population in the country, Jani warned, when asked by journalists about the possible implementation of a lockdown.

*jorgedossantos@gmail.com