Mozambique has covid-19 under control - WHO

The World Health Organisation has lauded measures put in place by Mozambique to control the coronavirus, saying the southern African country has the pandemic under control.

Mozambique has recorded just over 14,000 cases and 115 deaths. The country has maintained tough restrictions on gatherings.

"The pandemic here in Mozambique is under control, just look at the mortality rate that is 0.8%. It means that the measures that were taken had an effect and the resources that were channeled as well. There has been good contact tracing since the first case was identified in Mozambique on March 22, 2020", said Tomás Valdez, the interim representative of the World Health Organization to Maputo .

Under the new guidelines governing public transport, operators are required to decontaminate surfaces and to enforce the wearing of face masks for passengers. 

Buses are only allowed to carry a few people to achieve social distancing.

"If we look at the figures for Mozambique and compare with the figures for the WHO Africa region, we see that the indicators regarding the response to this pandemic have been quite good", Valdez added.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Mozambique requested more than € 590 million in financial assistance to mitigate against economic,and social shocks. 

The funds were also used to equip hospitals, laboratories and to train health professionals.

The country's death toll of 115 is one of the lowest in the world and dims even further when contrasted with that of neighbors South Africa, which has lost over 20,000 people to the virus.