BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) – Malawi is facing a resurgence of COVID-19 that is overwhelming the South African country, where a presidential residence and national stadium have been converted into field hospitals to save lives.
President Lazarus Chakwera, only six months in office, lost two cabinet ministers to COVID-19 in January amid a wave that led him to declare a state of national disaster in all 28 districts of Malawi.
Chakwera declared three days of national mourning over the deaths of transport ministers and local government, which shocked the nation and inspired a series of new measures to stem the spread of the virus in a country with a poor health system. A more contagious form of the coronavirus first reported in South Africa has since been confirmed in Malawi.
“Our medical facilities are terribly understaffed and our medical staff are in the minority,” Chakwera said in a recent address.
In Malawi, the number of confirmed cases of the disease has risen above 23,000, including a total of 702 deaths since Monday, according to Dr. John Phuka, Co-Chair of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
The number seems relatively small in a country of 18 million, but the 14,000 active cases are many times more than the number of established hospital beds. Officials set up improvised facilities to increase the number of treatment units from 400 to at least 1,500, sometimes setting up tents on the lawns of hospitals.
The State House presidential residence in the southern city of Zomba will soon be converted into a 100-bed treatment facility, officials say.
A 300-bed field hospital at Bingu National Stadium has begun admitting patients. Another 300-bed field hospital has opened in a youth center in Blantyre, the country’s largest city. And in the northern city of Mzuzu, an emergency care facility with 200 beds has been set up.
The government has also recruited 1,128 medical professionals, just under the 1,380 needed by health authorities.
Chakwera’s government – a retired pastor who was a relative political newcomer when he was elected in June – has already spent more than $ 38 million to address the pandemic. Last month, he ordered the Treasury Secretary to release an additional $ 22.6 million as soon as possible to meet the demands of the crisis.
One of the measures imposed by Chakwera, who began broadcasting a virus-related address to the nation every Sunday night following the death of his ministers, is to shut down schools for at least 15 days until February 8. A curfew is enforced and all meetings are limited to no more than 50 people.
“The situation is quite desperate,” Chakwera said in a recent speech, referring to the shortage of health infrastructure. “Although we have established 400 national treatment units in my six months in office, the current spate of infections has completely overwhelmed these facilities.”
Malawi has collected enough doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to vaccinate 20% of its people, and the first shipment will arrive in late February, he said. Primary care workers, the elderly and those with underlying conditions will be prioritized, Chakwera told the nation, appealing to outside help to combat the pandemic.
The international aid group MSF has also responded to the crisis by opening a 40-bed COVID-19 unit fully staffed and managed by its staff. However, the group noted that setting up more hospital beds may not be enough.
“Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination – which is unfortunately unlikely before April 2021, and even then, only for part of its population,” the organization said in a statement. “By then the pandemic could have peaked and killed many who could have been protected by vaccination.”
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