Africa-Press – Mozambique. Efraim Adisa, a 46-year-old truck driver, has been in isolation three times after testing positive for covid-19 during his journeys and now says he “panics” when passing through South Africa.
It is where the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus was discovered and is under global scrutiny.
Stationed in Chimoio, central Mozambique, the Malawian says that panic is due to the maximum alert for possible risks of reinfection.
A warning he hears from health authorities after the World Health Organisation (WHO) labelled the large number of mutations shown in the new variant as “worrying”.
“I have been immunised with vaccines within the company’s plan, but I have always been unsure, and I fear becoming infected again,” he said.
“So there is this panic and the fear of carrying this Omicron variant home,” he added to Lusa.
The truck driver was in isolation twice in late 2020 in Malawi on his way back from South Africa and the third time earlier this year in Zambia after crossing the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo).
He spent a week in Gauteng province in South Africa in mid-November, a few days before the variant was identified.
Before arriving in Mozambique, he passed through Zimbabwe.
“Since I became infected, I have redoubled my hygiene measures. I am never short of alcohol gel or masks in the truck.”
“I don’t ‘pick up’ people on the road. I prepare meals by myself,” Efraim Adisa explained that sometimes he has to “face queues” and that is “the worst enemy at borders” because it forces crowds, he said.
“I pray I don’t catch that variant, which worries me,” Efraim Adisa said.
Another truck driver, Edward Chionera, understands that Omicron poses new challenges to the group for the greater responsibility in sanitation – the only recommendation from the authorities – because they are frequently crossing countries neighbouring South Africa.
“We move through every country in the region delivering cargo, and if we want to secure employment, we are forced to take the routes,” the Zimbabwean told Lusa.
“We are afraid on every trip, fear of carrying the virus, and we only feel relief when we are back home from the trip,” he added.
Mozambican Francisco Eugénio, meanwhile, noted that the frequent coexistence between truckers in the region always “raises the fear” of someone carrying the virus, particularly when it is “a variant that the doctors consider of great concern”.
“And even worse, back home,” stressed Francisco Eugenio, who has built an isolated room in his backyard for himself whenever he returns from travelling before joining his family.
The provincial health services in Manica are continuing to campaign on the prevention measures for the new coronavirus, particularly among risk groups such as prostitutes at truck driver’s stops.
Rest areas along the N6 and N7 in the Beira corridor have been mapped to avoid random stops. Volunteers take temperature, screen for respiratory diseases and refer suspected cases to health units.
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