Maputo — Despite claims that the Covid-19 situation in Mozambique is improving, the harsh statistics show that February, although a shorter month than January, was worse in terms of Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
Summarising the month at a Maputo press conference on Monday, the Deputy National Director of Public Health, Benigna Matsinhe, said that 20,696 new cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in February, compared with 20,012 in January, an increase of 3.4 per cent.
The pressure on the health service increased significantly in February. In January, 887 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised in the isolation centres – this number rose to 1.002 in February, an increase of almost 13 per cent.
There were 274 deaths from Covid-19 reported in February, compared with 201 in January – an alarming increase of 36 per cent.
In only one key area – that of recoveries from the disease – did the figures actually improve in February. By the end of February, 69.2 per cent of people diagnosed with Covid-19 had made a full recovery. This is a much better figure than the 62 per cent recorded at the end of January.
But Matsinhe pointed out that on 31 December, the number of people who had made a full recovery was 89.4 per cent of all those diagnosed with the disease. These figures show just how sharp the increase in infections has been in the first two months of 2021.
The decline is generally blamed on the relaxation of preventive measures during the festive season. During the Christmas and New Year celebrations, party-goers threw caution to the winds, gathering in large numbers, often without any masks, and completely ignoring the need for social distancing. The bill came due in January and February, with those months’ cortege of disease and death.
“Given these facts”, said Matsinhe, “we want to reiterate our appeal to keep complying with the general measures for preventing the spread of Covid-19, and to avoid any triumphalist feelings about the disease”.
Matsinhe acknowledged a “stagnation” in the number of Covid-19 cases reported in recent days, but thought it far too premature to declare any sort of victory over the disease. Mozambicans must not drop their guard, she urged, and must continue obeying preventive measures.
This was despite the arrival last week of 200,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine produced by the Chinese company Sinopharm.
Matsinhe said the vaccines have now been distributed to all the provinces, and the staff who will administer the vaccine are being trained. Vaccination is likely to begin on 8 March.
The top priority for vaccination are health professionals. Since there are about 90,000 of these, and each will require two shots of the vaccine, 21 days apart, there will not be many doses left over for other priorities.