Health activist tells Malawi govt to expedite construction of Covid-19 quarantine centres

A renowned heath rights activist has asked government to speed up the construction of Covid-19 isolation and quarantine centres in the country as the progress in the construction is slow amid rising cases of coronavirus cases.

Maziko Matemba says this will avoid overwhelming referall hospitals.

He says each district should have an isolation and testing centre so that Covid-19 patients and suspects are taken care of right in their districts since it could be financial challenging for some districts to send patients and samples to central hospitals.

In most districts in the country, including Neno, construction of Covid-19 isolation and quarantine centres are underway.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Population and Social Welfare says it will restart  an exercise of identifying  beneficiaries under the COVID-19 Urban Cash Intervention due to anomalies which have marred the process.

Minister, Clara Makungwa has told the press in Lilongwe that the involvement of Ward Councillors  in the  identification process, brought in a political element into the program which the ministry has sorted out.

She said only trained officers will conduct the exercise.

Meanwhile, Makungwa has urged Non- governmental organisations in the country to temporarily suspend their activities and concentrate on COVID-19 response.

She said this at a press briefing in Lilongwe where 13 NGO’s announced a billion Kwacha support towards  the COVID-19 response.

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