Mozambique: - Health Minister Denies Outbreak of New Covid-19 Variant

12 January 2024
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

Maputo — Mozambican Health Minister Armindo Tiago has claimed that information circulating on social media about the outbreak of a more virulent variant of Covid-19 is out of date and only intends to cause unrest among Mozambican citizens.

According to Tiago, who as speaking to reporters on Thursday, on the sidelines of the ceremony to hand over orthopaedic and traumatology instruments to Maputo Central Hospital, information on social media about "a variant XX' of Covid-19 "is from 2022, it is only being re-circulated with a view to disinformation.'

For this reason, he said, it is essential for the media to share reliable information from reliable sources and, in this case, from the Health Ministry.

As for scares about influenza, Tiago said that between January and March, the country always sees a cyclical increase in the number of flu cases.

"Although we had an increase in the positivity rate from 12 to 20 percent in the last week of December, we haven't yet started to see an increase in the number of flu cases in our health units, but as the peak is still to come, this increase will happen', he said.

"What we have to say is that in this period there is an increase in the number of flu cases, and our concern should be prevention', the minister added.

Regarding cholera, he said that it also occurs cyclically and the number of cases of water-borne diseases increases during the rainy season.

According to the minister, in the current rainy season around 9,000 cases of cholera have been notified throughout the country and that due to the impossibility of vaccinating all citizens, the authorities have decided to adopt emergency vaccination in places where outbreaks are detected.

He stressed that the fight against cholera is the responsibility of all citizens. For this reason, individual and collective hygiene is important, as is the proper preparation of food, which also includes the need for correct washing and preservation.

The minister also added that it is essential that communities have water available to prevent cholera and, above all, that everyone communicates properly, particularly at this stage when a great deal of misinformation is circulating.

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