President Lazarus Chakwera has announced measures aiming at containing further spread of the second wave of COVID-19 which has hit the country.

In his address to the nation last night, Chakwera said all schools will close for three weeks, on the other hand students in boarding schools will remain at the campus during the three-week period.

“The time has come to enforce these things for the common good. For this reason, all schools will close for three weeks, but students in boarding schools will remain in their respective campuses until health authorities assess the severity of infection in those schools to determine whether it is safe for those students to go home.

“During this time of containment in boarding schools, the Taskforce will provide additional support to the schools to manage the students’ transition there, including communication with their guardians and parents,” said Chakwera.

He also directed the Minister of Justice to gazette today the new guidelines recommended by the Ministerial Committee that the Vice-President convened last week.

According to the Malawi leader, any person found in public by law enforcement authorities without a mask will be fined and that no person must be found wandering around socially between 9pm and 5am.

The President added that religious gatherings and all gatherings in general must have no more than 50 people under the strictest Covid-19 compliance certified and regulated by the local Council.

On COVID-19 funding, the President said he has directed Treasury to release K17 billion respond effectively to the new wave of infections.

“I have therefore directed the Minister of Finance to allocate K17.52 billion as soon as possible to the Covid-19 Taskforce for distribution to nine clusters to meet the demands of the current disaster.

I have also approved the allocation of K100 million to the Christian Hospitals Association of Malawi (CHAM) to supplement the efforts of public hospitals in fighting the pandemic, in addition to the support that Government is giving in the form of wages for CHAM healthcare workers and an additional 150 medical personnel for CHAM facilities,” Chakwera said.