MEC to strictly observe COVID-19 preventive protocols during the March 30 By-elections

By Duncan Mlanjira

The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has assured the public that it will strictly enforce and observe strict COVID-19 preventive measures to protect the electorate and poll workers from contracting or spreading the virus during the March 30 By-elections to be held in 7 constituencies and two wards.

At a press briefing on Thursday in Blantyre, MEC chairperson Justice DR. Chifundo Kachale, SC the messages on COVID-19 will be a cross-cutting theme in all electoral messages that we will be disseminating through loudhailers, radio, television, fliers, and posters among others.

Thus the Commission has:

• Requested the COVID-19 Taskforce to give MEC their platform to share messages through their platforms

• Each centre will have a pail of water for people to wash hands before proceeding to their respective business at a centre

• The Commission is encouraging the electorate to bring their own personal protective equipment (PPEs) like masks, face shields, and hand sanitisers

• Registrants and voters should queue two arms apart. Ushers will be trained to control the queues and ensure that people follow the directions they are given

• Polling staff will be given hand sanitisers, face shields, and masks among other PPEs

• Polling staff are not allowed to touch the voter certificate. Instead, the voter should just hold it out close to the identification clerk to read and verify the details on the certificate

• Where possible, voters are encouraged to bring their own ball point pens for marking on the ballot paper. The Commission will still make available the ball point pens in all ballot booths.

“It is our anticipation that the Commission will enjoy positive support from all parties and stakeholders,” Justice Kachale said. “We are having to do this work in the context of COVID19, we expect various players to ensure that they play their rightful roles in making sure that both the electorate and candidates adhere to the measures.

“The information we have from the COVID-19 Taskforce indicate that positivity rates have dropped drastically from what they were. We cannot overemphasize therefore the importance of adhering to the preventive measures while also praying that the situation gets better.

“At the height of the pandemic in mid-January, positivity rate was at over 30.4% but now it’s at 17.4% with projections that in the next two weeks it will be at 15.4% and in the next 4 weeks it will be below 10%.

 

“With the expectation that if that projection is maintained, it will be reasonably safe to undertake the by-elections since when we were conducting by-elections in November last year, it was at hovering around 15%.”

As of Wednesday, Malawi has registered 213 new COVID-19 cases, 518 new recoveries, eight new deaths — four from Blantyre, two from Mchinji, and one each from Kasungu and Mulanje Districts.

Of the new cases, 211 were local transmissions with Lilongwe as the highest at 70 followed by 48 in Blantyre, 19 from Mzuzu, 13 from Mangochi.

There were 17 cases that were new admissions in treatment units while 13 were discharged and out of a total of 141 active cases that are hospitalised, 36 were from in Lilongwe, 33 in Blantyre, 20 in Mzimba North and 10 in Thyolo.

Cumulatively, 15,321 cases have now recovered, 134 were lost to follow-up, and 76 are still being investigated to ascertain their outcome. — bringing the total number of active cases to 13,127.

Cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 29,634 cases including 976 deaths (Case Fatality Rate is at 3.3%). Of these cases, 2,022 are imported infections and 27,612 are locally transmitted.

The new cases were identified from 1,316 COVID-19 tests, of which 529 tests were through SARS-COV-2 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic test while the rest were through RT-PCR.

The positive cases out of the total translates to a positivity rate of 16.2%. Cumulatively, 174,787 tests have been conducted in the country so far.