Blantyre mayor imposes citywide lockdown: Ban weddings, bridal showers and social gatherings
Mayor of Blantyre City mayor Wild Ndipo has announced that the council has ordered a citywide lock-down, restricting the normal business to stem the proliferation of the coronavirus.
Addressing a news conference, mayor Ndipo said Blantyre City Council has with immediate effect banned street vending, wedding ceremonies, bridal showers and engagement ceremonies.
He said the council has also banned night clubs, sporting activities and other social gatherings in the wake of Coronavirus threat.
The mayor said the council will work with security agencies to reinforce the ban as Blantyre City is moving into a new phase in its fight against the virus.
On funerals, Ndipo says the council is advising conveners to take precutionary measures by limiting the number of attendees to funerals and making sure there is a bucket of water and soap for people to wash their hands.
There is no indication of how long the lockdown will stay in force.
Ndipo has since urged residents to call a toll-free line 54747 for further advice and to report anything in relation to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Though Malawi still has no confirmed cases, the country remains at risk and measures have been put in place to contain the spread of the infection as President Peter Mutharika declared a State of Disaster. The measures include travel limitations, school closure and a ban on meetings of more than 100 people.
The authorities are also considering a countrywide travel ban.
We should not copy and paste. Why should we have a lock down in a city. The question is do we have any registered case so far? The answer is no unless this is a lie. So only preventative measures need to be instituted-Total closure of all boarder posts. If transmission is through proximity and no case has been reported and no one enters Malawi or those relatives of ours across the boarders walk in and are monitored and quarantined as necessary how will the virus find its way here in. While we understand that this is a very dangerous… Read more »
Malawians, this is not a lockdown. Do we really know what it means to lockdown a city?
How about churches? Why targeting clubs. Nde mowa tizikamwera kuti? U cant just be following other countries willy nilly. We need to eat. If you ban our sources of income, where are we gonna eat? Other countries are bailing their citizens out. This is just gonna increase robberies and crime in the city. mxiew
A lockdown itself is going to kill more people in a poor country like Malawi than if we had the disease itself. Remember, most Malawians rely on a day to day income to feed their homes. Those imposing lockdowns are rich people who will not suffer even the country went on a lockdown for a year.
Malawi’s economy is nothing but closing borders is the only way one can protect Coronavirus. Check in the Hotels,Lodges and many places you will see that people are hiding visitors from abroad through Ethiopia etc. Mr NDIPO is wasting not his time but fuel as wells. South Africa is a vast country than Malawi and NDIPO is just copying His Excellence Mr Ramaphosa by locking down South Africa after the death of 1275 people. Also, some Churches are quite big enough and to ban up to 200 people who can sit even 2metres apart is just copying other Countries. Kusapita… Read more »
Tsekani tizimwera malo oziwa tokha
I like lockdowns. More time for snoozing and getting fat. Continue.
Total stupidity. I wish we had Paul Kagame as our president.
Why ban in BT only and not the whole country? Is Mayor Ndipo trying to prove that Mutharika is sleeping on the job?. Is Blantyre going to close boarders with other districts?
Let us see how they remove the vendors in the streets.
Kodi Bottle Store or shabeen zili mugulu la night club? This is because most of them do not bear the name night club and will, arguably, operate
Join the discussion…
You mean no case reoprted or no equipment for testing? Busy stealing money and when it comes to general public interest you have no cash, what a shame??
I am not pro government and I am not in Malawi. I am in a Corona infested country. Nkutheka kuti kulibe case chifukwa ndimmene anthu ikuwathotholera kunomu, kumeneko bwenzi infa zitawonetsa kuti kunja kwayipa. But I agree with you that government needs to procure equipment and ventilators in preparation for a possible pandemic in the country. If they do not start ahead of time eeh kudzachitika chipere.
True we need clarity on the categories.