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Spike in COVID-19 Cases Delays Plans to Reopen Schools in Malawi

Lameck Masina

   BLANTYRE, MALAWI - A spike in COVID-19 cases has forced authorities in
   Malawi to delay plans to reopen schools on July 13. In addition, the
   country is running short of testing kits.

   The co-chair for the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, John Phuka,
   said Friday that a critical shortage of test kits has forced the
   government to stop mass testing.

   "So what we have done, we have changed our testing to make sure that we
   are testing only those with symptoms," he told VOA, via a messaging
   app.

   "The logistics around these tests is that we order them from abroad,"
   he said. "So some of those kits come from Europe, and as we speak
   because of logistic challenges and flights, we have some test kits
   stuck elsewhere in Europe."

   The kits are expected to arrive in two weeks.

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