Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican health authorities on Tuesday reported 390 new cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease, mostly in the north of the country.
According to a Ministry of Health Tuesday press release, 78.2 per cent of the new cases were diagnosed in the four provinces north of the Zambezi – 191 in Niassa, 52 in Nampula, 41 in Cabo Delgado and 21 in Zambezia.
The seven provinces south of the Zambezi contributed only 21.8 per cent of the cases – 29 in Maputo city, 21 in Inhambane, 16 in Gaza, eight in Maputo province, five in Manica, five in Sofala and one in Tete.
Since the start of the pandemic, 868,523 people have been tested for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, 3,318 of them in the previous 24 hours. 2,928 of these tests yielded negative results, while 390 people tested positive for the coronavirus. This brings the total number of those diagnosed with Covid-19 in Mozambique to 148,444.
Of the new cases identified on Tuesday, 210 were women or girls, and 180 were men or boys. 49 were children under the age of 15, and 20 were over 65 years old. In two cases no age information was available.
The positivity rate (the proportion of those tested found to be carrying the coronavirus) on Tuesday was 11.8 per cent. This compares with 10.5 per cent on Monday, 10.1 per cent on Sunday, 11.6 per cent on Saturday, and 11.3 per cent on Friday, figures that are relatively low when compared with the rates in July and August. The last time the national positivity rate reached 20 per cent was 28 August.
The three provinces with the highest positivity rates on Tuesday were all north of the Zambezi – Zambezia (20 per cent), Niassa (19.5 per cent) and Nampula (15.6 per cent). The lowest rates were reported from the central provinces of Tete (2.1 per cent) and Manica (three per cent).
In the same 24 hour period, seven Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital (three in Maputo, two in Niassa, one in Zambezia and one in Tete), while six new patients were admitted (two each in Maputo, Nampula and Tete),
The number of people under medical care in the Covid-19 treatment facilities fell from 107 on Monday to 102 on Tuesday. 44 of these patients (43.1 per cent) were in Maputo. There were also 18 patients in Nampula, 17 in Niassa, four each in Cabo Delgado, Zambezia and Inhambane, three in Matola, and two each in Tete, Manica, Sofala and Gaza.
The Ministry release reported a further four Covid-19 deaths. These victims were three women and one man, all Mozambican citizens, aged between 39 and 66. All died in Maputo city. This brings the total Covid-19 death toll in Mozambique to 1,885.
Over the previous 24 hours, 804 people were declared fully recovered from Covid-19 (560 in Maputo province, 102 in Cabo Delgado, 89 in Gaza, and 53 in Zambezia). The total number of recoveries now stands at 138,695, or 93.4 per cent of all those ever diagnosed with Covid-19 in Mozambique.
The number of active Covid-19 cases fell from 8,278 on Monday to 7,870 on Tuesday. The geographical distribution of the active cases was as follows: Maputo city, 2,531 (32.6 per cent of the total); Nampula, 1,440; Maputo province. 1,334; Niassa, 828; Inhambane, 622; Cabo Delgado, 503; Gaza, 270; Zambezia, 235; Tete, 41; Manica, 28; Sofala, eight.
The release added that over the previous 24 hours, a further 77,188 people were vaccinated against Covid-19. Since vaccination began, on 8 March, 1,500,089 people have been fully vaccinated.
