More severe measures adopted by the government to halt the growth in the number of infections, admissions and deaths due to the new coronavirus are in force today throughout the country.
Announced last Wednesday night by the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, these measures focus mainly on the functioning of commerce, leisure activities, cults and others of a social nature, whose control is now more restricted.
The set of restrictive measures to be in force until 5 February includes the strengthening of some rules taken previously in the management of the pandemic. These include limiting the number of participants in private events to a maximum of 30 people in enclosed spaces, as opposed to the 50 announced in December as part of the declaration of the state of disaster. Up to 50 participants are allowed to participate in open spaces, compared to 150 in the previous year.
The number of funeral participants has also been revised, and is set at only 20 people, with ten if the deceased was a victim of Covid-19. Religious services now have only 50 participants, regardless of where they take place and wedding and other parties should not go beyond 8pm.
In his communication to the nation, the Head of State established that the restaurants and pasture houses will now be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., from Monday to Friday and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and their capacity will also be restricted; the “bottle store” will now be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will remain closed on Sundays, while the sale of alcoholic beverages is forbidden to supermarkets from 1 p.m. onwards.
The cinemas, theatres, museums, galleries, cultural centres and auditoriums are suspended, as are gyms, public swimming pools and beaches for bathers, which have experienced worrying floods since the relaxation of measures in December.
The President of the Republic justified the reformulation of the rules to combat Covid-19 by the growing number of cases of the disease in the country, which he attributed to an almost general “neglect” of society in relation to the disease.
Filipe Nyusi stressed that the Government will not tolerate violations of the established rules and instructed the Defence and Security Forces and the National Inspectorate of Economic Activities, in particular, to be more active in the surveillance and sanctions of offenders.
“We will not tolerate situations of affront because we want to defend life and not negligence”, he warned.
