Death Toll Climbs in Mozambique Shipwreck

The death toll from a shipwreck that occurred on Sunday off the coast of Mozambique has risen to 94. The overloaded boat, which was not designed to carry passengers, was transporting families between Lunga and Ilha de Moçambique.

Three additional bodies were recovered early on Monday morning. Local authorities are still searching for survivors, but the exact number remains unclear.

"We know there were 130 people on board," said Silvério Nauaito, administrator of the Island of Mozambique. "Sadly, 94 have lost their lives. Around 11 are receiving treatment at medical facilities, and a small number, possibly 3, have been rescued."

Search efforts will continue throughout the day to determine the final number of missing individuals.

Source: Radio Mozambique 

Government of Memba district ramps up counterterrorism efforts.

The government of Nampula's district of Memba is tightening  vigilance in all mining areas to keep terrorists from infiltrating and recruiting young people.

Juma Cateria, the administrator of Memba, stated that inspection teams have been established at all points where minerals occur, as authorities recognize that these areas are vulnerable to terrorist infiltration.

Juma Cateria also stated that people in the mining sites' surrounding communities are already aware of the dangers of not reporting strange people in the area.

Other aspects that inspection teams examine in those locations include the need to practice mining in an organized and safe manner in order to avoid tragedies and make the optimum use of resources.

USAID provides 682 million meticais to support student retention programs in Zambézia and Nampula schools.

The Student Retention Program in Schools in the Provinces of Zambézia and Nampula will be funded with more than 9.5 million dollars, or 682 million meticais, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Civil Society Education and Learning and Training Center, or CESC, will run the program, which will engage kids and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 19.

Inocêncio Manjuel, the deputy national director of the CESC's AGE Program, spoke on Tuesday in the Milange region and explained that the program has a five-year term and also seeks to enhance students' pedagogical performance.

Some beneficiaries  expressed satisfaction with the support they will get to complete their studies.

Nampula:Church arrested for act of instigating civil disobedience

Church leader in Nampula  detained and charged with inciting public unrest.

The head of a church in the Rapale neighborhood was arrested this week by the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Nampula after being charged with inciting public disorder.

The person is charged with spreading messages during services that forbade communities from studying and from contacting state institutions in the event of problems.

According to Zacarias Nacute, the PRM's spokesman in Nampula, when the PRM learned about the issue, it went to the church to convince the pastor to stop spreading messages encouraging public disruption.

Nacute claims that after being dissatisfied, the adherents proceeded to the police station to protest the decision, which is why the organization imprisoned the said church leader.

Campaign to inspect the use of electricity, in Nampula

 Power company, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), in Nampula, has been launching, since the beginning of this month, a campaign to monitor the use of electricity in this part of the country. 

In this first phase, the focus is on condominiums, commercial establishments and mills, to assess the legality of energy consumption.

The director of EDM, customer service area of ​​Nampula, Eduardo Pinto, informed that the last inspection campaigns carried out made it possible to reduce the levels of financial losses caused by illegal consumption.

During Thursday's inspection, a milling industry that used electricity illegally was dismantled in Namicopo, in the city of Nampula.

Source; Radio Mozambique

COVID: 48 Cases in A Week

Mozambique: Only 48 new Covid-19 cases in a week

File photo: MISAU

The Mozambican health authorities reported on Tuesday a further seven new cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

This brings the number of new cases diagnosed in the past week in the entire country to just 48.

According to a Tuesday press release from the Ministry of Health, that day’s new cases were four men and three women, all Mozambican citizens. They ranged in age from five to 61. There were two cases from Maputo city, two from Gaza, two from Sofala and one from Zambezia.

Since the start of the pandemic, 1,382,966 people have been tested in Mozambique for the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, 597 of them in the previous 24 hours. 590 of these tests yielded negative results, and the seven who tested positive raised the total number of positive cases diagnosed in Mozambique to 230,076.

Two Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital on Tuesday, one in Maputo city and one in Niassa and four new cases were admitted, three in Niassa and one in Maputo. 

The number of patients undergoing medical care in the Covid-19 wards rose from eight on Monday to ten on Tuesday. Only one of these patients is still in intensive care, receiving supplementary oxygen.

The Ministry reported no deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, and so the death toll in Mozambique from the disease remains 2,220.

No recoveries from the disease were reported either, and thus the total number of recoveries remains 227,709, which is 98.97 per cent of all Covid-19 cases ever diagnosed in Mozambique.

The number of active cases of Covid-19 rose from 136 on Monday to 143 on Tuesday. The geographical breakdown of the active cases was as follows: Niassa, 32; Maputo city, 28; Zambezia, 20; Tete, 19; Sofala, 18; Gaza, seven; Nampula, six; Cabo Delgado, five; Manica, four; Maputo province, three; and Inhambane, one.

The Ministry press release also reported that a further 2,265 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday. The total number fully vaccinated against the disease now stands at 14,681, 342, which is 96.5 per cent of all citizens aged 18 and above.

Source: AIM