Although no cases of the respiratory disease Covid-19 have yet been detected in Mozambique, the government has decided to step its preventive measures, notably by shutting down all the country's schools.

Addressing the nation on television and radio on Friday afternoon, President Filipe Nyusi said all schools, whether publicly or privately owned, and teaching all levels of education, from pre-school up to university, must close for 30 days as from next Monday.

The restriction on meetings has been tightened. On Saturday the government announced a ban on all gatherings of more than 300 people. Nyusi's Friday announcement brought this limit down to 50.

He made it clear that this restriction applies to all meetings, including religious services.

There will be exceptions from the ban for state events, such as the forthcoming sitting of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, which is due to begin on March 25.

Nyusi said the government will ban the issuing of entry visas, and cancel visas that have already been issued. He said nothing about citizens of countries who do not need entry visas (mostly other members of the Southern African Development Community, SADC).

All travellers entering Mozambique must go into quarantine for 14 days. Previously, this only applied to travellers arriving from countries with high rates of Covid-19 infection. By Thursday, the list of such countries had reached 20, namely: China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, United States, United Kingdom, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Pakistan, Austria and Canada.

The Health Ministry had promised to update this list every day, but that will hardly be necessary, if everybody arriving in the country is to be quarantined.

Nyusi said that preventive measures must be taken in all public and private institutions. Many institutions are already obliging their employees and workers to wash their hands, and are regularly disinfecting surfaces.

The President also announced the creation of a technical and scientific committee, headed by Health Minister Armindo Tiago, which will accompany the development of the pandemic and advise the government. The commission will include not only health experts, but other scientists, and media professionals.

Nyusi announced that 35 suspect cases had been tested for the Coronavirus and all proved negative. Similar there have been no reports of any Mozambicans living in the diaspora becoming infected.

To keep Mozambique free of the virus, "prevention remains the best strategy", stressed Nyusi.