UN calls for tough coronavirus battle
By Wezzie Gausi:
United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator for Malawi, Maria Jose Torres, has called for concerted efforts if the fight against Covid-19 is to be fruitful in the country.
In a statement released on Sunday, Torres says the Covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented crisis throughout the world that requires extraordinary measures.
The UN envoy called on everyone in Malawi to work together to ensure that the crisis does not become a human tragedy.
She says the UN encourages everyone in Malawi to observe the recommended measures for prevention and containment of the pandemic.
“The United Nations in Malawi acknowledges the wide-ranging preparedness and response measures announced and currently under implementation by the Government of Malawi since the declaration of a state of disaster on 20 March 2020.
“We are providing decisive and coordinat efforts, together with development partners and non-government organisations, to strengthen the ability of Malawian institutions to respond to the Covid-19 crisis and ensure that no one is left behind,” Torres said.
She further stressed that technical advice provided by the World Health Organisation has been critical to the design of Malawi’s national Covid-19 health sector plan, including establishing laboratory testing capacity and training public health specialists.
Torres also acknowledges the good working relationship that exists between different UN organisations in the country in fighting the pandemic.ntre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (Chreaa) has urged the government to expedite the release of prisoners as a way of decongesting correctional facilities in the face of Covid-19.
Chreaa Executive Director, Victor Mhango, was commenting on the second line of measures President Peter Mutharika lined up to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We would have loved to have these measures as early as yesterday. The risk people in the prisons are going through is the same as the risk in the outside world,” he said.
In his address to the nation on Saturday, Mutharika directed the Malawi Prisons Service and Juvenile Centres to provide names of prisoners who can be released as a way of decongesting the correctional facilities.
Mutharika also pledged to recruit 2,000 health workers to help in the fight against Covid-19.
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