Chakwera says ‘we must thank God’  for Malawi reduced Covid-19 cases

President Lazarus Chakwera has said  people in the country  “must thank God”  as  country continues to record lowest number of daily confirmed coronavirus cases.

Chakwera also commended  Malawians for vigilance in observing health and safety guidelines government gave in the fight against the virus pandemic.

In this 10th radio address on Saturday night,  Chakwera said numbers of people succumbing to Covid-19 pandemic have slowed down significantly.

“We must thank God for this,” said Chakwera a theologian and former head of the Malawian Assemblies of God Church.

Chakwera reported that it was 177 days ago that Malawi confirmed its first case if Covi-19, and since then, there  have been 5 764 confirmed cases, 4 178 of whom have already recovered, while 1 407 are in the process of recovery.

The President said the figures were pointing in the right direction as the virus is in retreat.

He asked Malawians to continue to observe three rules that health experts have prescribed for keeping the virus from spreading: hand washing, observing distance, and wearing face coverings.

But commentators say the government should also tackle other diseases rather than focusing on virus pandemic alone.

Social commentator Humphrey Mvula said it’s high time government starts to talk of other diseases which are also killing people in hospitals rather than concentrating on COVID-19 alone.

“We equally have other diseases that have killed us; and they are infectious; TB, cholera, whatever, we have lived with those diseased and we are living with them, if you go to major hospitals, go and look at the death rate, there are so many Malawians dying every day of other diseases other than COVID,” said Mvula.

According to President Chakwera,  his administration has adequately armed the health sector to deal with all health matters affecting the country.

He said in the 2020/2021 national budget, his administration has allocated about $273 million to the health sector – more than double the allocation given to the health sector in the previous national budget.