Schools to reopen early September—Chakwera

 President Lazarus Chakwera has said schools that will meet set Covid-19 requirements will open early September.

In his national address monitored on local radio stations last night, the President said he was thankful to God that despite the number of people found with Covid-19 virus passing the 5 000 mark, only five percent have been serious cases that required hospitalisation.

“Even among the 389 health workers who have contracted the virus, we have lost only one and the rest are in recovery. I thank God for this.

“Secondly, I thank our health workers for continuing to defend us from the virus with their expertise in matters of prevention and treatment. Because of their efforts, over 37 000 have now been tested,” said Chakwera.

The President also thanked members of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 for their work of coordinating and spearheading efforts to fight against the spread of the coronavirus on all fronts which he described as commendable.

He said: “It is because of their organisation that we are now able to set some benchmarks for the restoration of social order and the recovery of the economy.

“For instance, in the education cluster of the task force, guidelines have already been developed on what schools need to do to reopen safely. In fact, we will start assessing the readiness of each school this coming week so that the schools that meet our safety standards can reopen in early September.”

Chakwera said similarly, the Ministry of Transport is making great strides in meeting the safety standards of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) so that the country is now confident to safely open Kamuzu International Airport in the first week of September.

“When that happens, passengers arriving from abroad will need to have a certificate showing that they had been tested no more than 10 days prior, be tested again on arrival, and be transported to designated hotels for 48 hours of self-isolation while waiting for the results and before being directed where to go based on their results,” he said