Mozambique’s president and first lady test positive for Covid-19




Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and First Lady Isaura Nyusi have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in isolation. File photo: Twitter/@mwelimasilela
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CAPE TOWN – Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and First Lady Isaura Nyusi have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in isolation.

According to a statement issued by the Presidency on Monday, the president and his wife had decided to isolate themselves in accordance with health guidelines after testing positive, even though they were not showing symptoms, BBC News Africa reported.

Nyusi and his wife took rapid tests and were asymptomatic but immediately decided to isolate while awaiting their PCR results, the Presidency’s statement said.

Mozambique has reported more than 193,000 Covid-19 cases so far, while the death toll stands at 2,031, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Mozambique’s coronavirus infections are at their peak, with the latest data showing that the average number of new cases has been increasing for seven days in a row, according to news broadcaster Al Jazeera.

The southern African country recorded its highest daily infection numbers since the start of the pandemic, recording just under 5,000 cases on December 30, mainly driven by the new Omicron variant.

Despite the spike in daily infections, deaths remain low.

Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the use of a third dose of the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged between 12 and 15 years, and narrowed the time for all booster shots to five months from six months after primary doses, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

The agency also authorised a third shot in children aged 5 through 11 years who are immunocompromised.

– African News Agency