BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—After a five-week break due to Covid-19 resurgence, students across the country can now afford a smile as Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 has given a go ahead for the re-opening of schools next week Monday February 22.
Co – Chairperson for the Taskforce who is also Minister of health Khumbize Chiponda has disclosed this on Wednesday evening in Lilongwe during a COVID – daily update.
In her remarks, Minister of education Agnes Nyalonje said Government has since given her Ministry K5 billion for schools’ response against the pandemic.
The decision to reopen schools comes following a drop in the country’s COVID 19 positivity rate from about 30 to 16.2 percent.
On 18th January, President Lazarus Chakwera directed the Ministry of Education to close all schools for three weeks after noticing resurgence in Covid-19 cases.
The students were supposed to go back to their respective schools after the expiry of the three weeks but the government extended it to 22nd February, 2021.
After reporting no positive cases for almost two months, the country had seen a sudden resurgence in coronavirus cases since the middle of January this year.
The situation left President Chakwera with no choice but to introduce new preventive measures to contain a jump in confirmed cases and deaths from the pandemic.
The restrictions included school closures, a night-time curfew, and no gatherings over 50 people.
The measure came five days after Chakwera declared a state of national disaster in response to the spike in COVID-19 cases.
