Zomba City Council (ZCC) has made strides in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by engaging young footballers in the city against the continued playing of community football (makwalala) in the wake of the rising cases of the pandemic.

ZCC held a meeting with Zomba Urban Fifa/FAM Under 16 players as one way of raising awareness on the revised preventive guidelines which government, through the Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19, announced recently.

The city’s environmental health officer, Gomezgani Nyasulu, said government banned sports activities due to the rapid spread of the pandemic, adding that it is risky for people to defy the order by engaging in the suspended activities.

“The ban in sports activities ensures that everybody should be safe from the further spread of the pandemic. We decided to engage these young footballers because they could be carriers of the virus who will in turn transmit it to their parents, guardians, members of their families or anybody they can come into contact with,” he said.

Nyasulu added that basing from the questions the youngsters were raising during the meeting, it is evident that there are a lot of misconceptions about the pandemic in the communities. He said ZCC will continue to engage various people in the communities to raise awareness and clear the misconceptions of Covid-19.

In his remarks, one of the youngsters, Ibrahim Mkwate, hailed ZCC for the meeting, saying as the youth, they have a greater role to play in the fight against the pandemic by complying to all the set preventive guidelines.