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HOPE FOR CHURCHES AS MINISTER HINTS AT REOPENING

03/07/2020 01:16:00 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE

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MATSAPHA - While government has banned the sale of alcohol in the country, the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, has hinted at the possibility of reopening churches.

The minister gave the hint during a press conference which was held at the Central Medical Stores in Matsapha, shortly after the Prime Minister (PM), Ambrose Dlamini, received medical equipment and supplies donated by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The minister thanked the Taiwanese Government for giving the country medical equipment and supplies as it was in need of it, especially in the upcoming weeks.

She said since the country had already recorded 840 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 (as of yesterday), projections reflected that by the end of next week, they would be over 1 000. She added that at the end of the month, the estimates suggested that over 0.1 per cent of the Eswatini population would have tested positive.

Important

In that regard, the minister said it was important to look with what the Republic of China (Taiwan) had done to successfully fight and contain COVID-19. She said that country never closed businesses after the outbreak of COVID-19, but only its ports.

She said what Taiwan did was that everyone had to wear a face mask everywhere they went, washed their hands regularly and observed social distancing. She said these practices became a custom to the people and that was why it was successful in the fight and control of the virus.
It is worth mentioning that as of June 29, 2020, Taiwan, which has a population of 23.8 million people, had recorded seven deaths linked to the virus, out of 447 confirmed cases, while 435 had fully recovered.

Therefore, the minister said the country was at a critical stage in terms of COVID-19 response as it was expected that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases would surge, at least until the end of July 2020.
She said this would be caused by the fact that government had already opened businesses and next week it would open schools. She said this meant that a lot of people would be travelling, talking to each other and gathering.

“Kungenteka kuvulwe emasonntfo njengoba solo emasontfo bekacela (Maybe the next sector to be opened will be churches since they had been pleading to be allowed to open),” the minister said.

She said everyone knew that in churches, many people gathered and sang.
She said if the place was closed and people were singing and talking, they would breathe it (virus) out in the air and inhale it.

The minister said that would result in more people testing positive for the coronavirus. She added that as everyone could see how the situation was difficult in the Manzini Region, the ministry was busy adding personnel to the response team in the region, including communities.
She said as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased week after another, the ministry was also adding the number of personnel in the coronavirus response team.

Warned

In that regard, the minister warned the nation that the country was heading towards a critical situation in as far as COVID-19 was concerned. She said they might see more people dying of the virus if they were not taking extra precautions in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

“So, we should all wear face masks, wash our hands regularly and observe social distancing. By so doing, we will be protecting ourselves, families and friends from being infected with the virus,” the minister said.

She emphasised that from this week, more people would be recruited to the Manzini COVID-19 response team. She said others would work at community level.
Nkosi emphasised that by making it a ‘custom’ to wear face masks, washing hands regularly and observing social distancing, people would live longer and be safe from being infected with the virus. It is worth noting that initially, when the country went on a partial lockdown on March 27, 2020, government allowed 50 people in churches and in any gatherings, including funerals and weddings.

However, considering the seriousness of the pandemic, government reduced the number to 20. However, later on, government once tried to increase the number of congregants from 20 to 70 per cent capacity of any church, but this decision was also changed to a proposal of 70 people per service.

The matter was debated in Parliament and Members of Parliament (MPs) rejected the proposal of having 70 people per service.
As such, churches are only allowed to have 20 people per service.