Government says all schools will not be open on July 13, 2020 as previously suggested due to the increased number of Covid-19 cases.
Presidential Taskforce Co-Chairperson Dr. John Phuka said on Thursday that government will continue to monitor the trend of the pandemic in the country to determine when it is safe to open schools.
Phuka said decision on whether to open schools is guided by a risk-based approach that is centred on safety of the students, their teachers, and the entire community.
In the past 24 hours, Malawi has registered 44 new COVID-19 cases, no new recoveries, and four new deaths.
Dr. Phuka said the new deaths are two each from Blantyre and Lilongwe districts.
He said of the new cases, 37 are contacts of confirmed cases and seven are imported infections.
“Of the locally transmitted infections, eight are healthcare workers (six from Mzuzu, and one each from Mchinji and Nsanje), 17 were reported from Blantyre, three from Zomba, two each from Dowa and Mchinji and one each from Chitipa, Karonga, Kasungu, Mulanje, Mwanza and Mulanje,” he said.
“Of the imported cases, three are from Lilongwe, and one each from Balaka, Chiradzuru, Machinga and Mzimba South.”
Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 1986 cases and 29 deaths.
“The average age of the cases is 34 years, the youngest case is aged 1 month, the oldest is 78 years and 67% are male. The country has so far conducted 18,814 COVID-19 tests in 39 COVID-19 testing sites,” Dr. Phuka said.
