Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of the Karonga Diocese has appealed to people in the district to continue putting on face masks despite the decline in daily COVID-19 cases in the country.
The Bishop made the remarks recently after the Diocese through the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) donated face masks to pupils at St Joseph the Worker Primary School in the district.
Speaking in an interview following the distribution of the face masks, Bishop Mtumbuka said despite the declining COVID-19 cases people of the district should continue following the preventive measures as set out by Government.
“As a diocese we have done a lot in complimenting Government’s efforts to combat the pandemic such as conducting awareness campaigns and distributing personal protective equipment to different health facilities hence my appeal to people to continue following the set guidelines,” he said.
Turning to the donation, Mtumbuka, expressed gratitude to PAC for donating the face masks to the learners.
“The primary school is in a suburb of the township of Karonga but most of its kids come from poor families and it is certain the masks they were using were old worn out masks hence we are grateful for the donation as this will give the pupils a boost,” said the Bishop.
Ellen Mwafulirwa, headmistress at the primary school, expressed her delight in the timely assistance of the face masks saying the distribution of the masks has provided a timely boost to those learners currently sitting primary eight leaving certificate exams.
“Despite the provision of face masks to learners in response to Covid-19 pandemic, the school is facing the challenge of inadequate classroom blocks as we only have 8 classrooms for over 560 students which is not ideal especially during this pandemic,” she explained.
Currently Karonga has registered 83 COVID-19 cases with 4 fatalities.
