People in Chiradzulu have said they are happy with the injunction against the Covid-19 lockdown which was obtained by the Human Rights Defenders Coalition.
The government instituted a lockdown which was scheduled to start on Saturday but the injunction blocked the start of preventive action.
In an interview with Malawi24, one of the residents Patrick Nambazo said a lockdown would have been possible if government had provided people with starter packs.
“Lockdown is something which is hard to be implemented especially when people are struggling in finding their daily bread. May be if government had given starter packs to the people, the lockdown decision could have been viable. The government should think of other ways of preventing the spread of the virus other than lockdown,” he said.
One of the businesspersons at Mbulumbuzi market, Peter Khungwa said: “We understand that this disease is very dangerous as we have seen how people in other countries are dying. Locking down a country is a good idea but not here in Malawi because we rely on hand-to-mouth type of living,” he said.
He added that traders in the district are following the instructions that are being given to them by different stakeholders on preventive measures of the disease.
According to Khungwa, businesspersons make sure there is a pail of water and soap outside their groceries so that their customers should be cleaning their hands before and after buying our commodities.
However, some residents said they are finding it difficult to follow some of the measures as advised by authorities.
One resident, Linda Chatha said she finds it difficult not to touch her mouth, eyes or nose since other actions are involuntary.
On the lockdown, Chatha said people are going to die of hunger if placed under a Covid-19 lockdown without food.
“So it’s better to emphasize on the measures which are already there but not lockdown,” she said.
In Malawi, Covid-19 has killed two out of 17 cases registered. There Have also been three recoveries.
