President Lazarus Chakwera says Coronavirus preventive measures are hard but are better than sending loved ones to hospitals which do not have enough beds or oxygen for all infected persons.
He made the remarks on Sunday night during a national address broadcast from Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.
Last week, the government closed schools, introduced a 9PM-5AM curfew and restricted gatherings to a maximum of 50 people. The Malawi Police over the past days have been enforcing the measures, leading to arrests of many people including those found not wearing masks.
Chakwera in his address noted that it is hard to follow these preventive measures but he argued that Malawians must do hard things to beat the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said the preventive hardships are better than having people in hospitals that do not have enough resources and than losing loved ones.
“Our best chance to defeat this virus is to bring the the number of infection down to zero so that we can spend our energy and resources on treating those who already have the virus.
“If you don’t have the virus or you don’t know if you have it, the best thing you can do to help Malawi win this fight is to avoid getting it and avoid spreading it. That means you have to stop doing the things that expose you and others to infections,” said Chakwera.
He then urged people to wash hands, wear masks and watch distance all the time.
Malawi has seen a rise in Coronavirus infections and deaths this month with over 300 deaths and more than 12,000 new infections recorded in about three weeks.
