As the country struggles with a surge in COVID-19 cases, Malawi says it is hiring hundreds of healthcare staffs to resolve the shortage in healthcare staffs.
Government figures indicate that, after exposure to COVID-19, about 900 Malawian health workers are currently in quarantine. Ten of them have passed away.
Dr. Charles Mwansambo is the Health Ministry’s spokesperson.
Speaking during a televised presidential address on Sunday night, he said that this week, the government is seeking to hire 1,380 new healthcare staff from different schools to address the shortage.
“So there are 219 workers for central hospitals, 150 workers for CHAM [Christian Health Association of Malawi] facilities and 377 for district hospitals. And we are also recruiting 634 interns,” he said.
In a speech on Sunday night, President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi said that he was worried about an alarming spike in coronavirus cases.
“In the past seven days, we have confirmed a total of 6,675 new infections, which is an average of 953 confirmed infections per day. This means that the average daily number of new infections from this past week is double what it was the previous week,” he said.
In the past seven days, Chakwera also said that the daily average number of COVID-19 fatalities was more than double what it was in the previous week.
Over the past seven days, Chakwera also said that the daily average number of COVID-19 deaths was more than double that of the previous week.
“Covid-19 deaths in the seven days between January 10th and 16th were 80, but in the seven days between January 17th and yesterday, the total was 170. The continued rise in new infections and new deaths over the past week means that the urgent directives I gave a week ago must continue to be implemented with uncommon speed,” he said.
A nighttime curfew, school suspension and a suggestion that Malawians wear face masks were included in the guidelines.
