Mzuzu Prison Officer in charge says random Coronavirus tests conducted at the prison have led to fears that there are a lot of prisoners who have Coronavirus at the facility.
This was revealed on Saturday when members of St Michael’s Skills Development Centre donated face masks at the prison.
Mzuzu Prison Officer in charge, Senior Superintendent Zachaeus Malekano M’bawa, said the prison is still registering increased numbers of those contracting the virus.
M’bawa said out of a random selection of ten convicts tested for Covid-19, five tested positive.
“We conducted some tests selected randomly of which out of ten inmates five tested positive of Coronavirus which is very pathetic because that sample gives us some fears that 50 percent of our prisoners are infected,” M’bawa said.
In his remarks, the Board Chairperson for St Michael’s Skills Development Centre based at Ekwendeni in Mzimba District, Michael Sumphi said his organisation had to solicit funds from a partner in Germany to assist the inmates with face masks.
“We thought of coming in to assist with face masks having received a request from the authorities upon receiving reports that the country has now registered two deaths emanating from Covid-19,” Sumphi said.
Despite various efforts to decongest the prisons in the country, Mzuzu Prison which is designed to host 550 inmates has the capacity of 784 prisoners of which 88 are females.
