Angola announced last week the temporary suspension of connections with seven African countries — South Africa, Botswana, Essuatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe — as of December 1, due to the appearance of the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV- 2 in South Africa.
"It was an emergency measure that we took due to the consequences that could come, but that does not mean that we cannot review and adapt it as the situation evolves," said Carolina Cerqueira, who was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the SEDES Congress - Association for Economic and Social Development, which took place from Friday to Sunday in Carcavelos, Cascais municipality.
Asked by Lusa about the economic consequences of this measure for the Angolan population, the minister said that "it will aggravate the pandemic as much as it has so far."
"The social fabric was destabilized by the pandemic, the economy set back, families suffered from the decrease in their purchasing power. The Government tried to make up for these shortages and shortages with food aid to the most needy populations. We are opening up our economy little by little," he said.
The minister also added that Angola already has about 30 percent of the population vaccinated against covid-19, and expressed confidence that "the majority of the Angolan population over 18 years of age will be vaccinated", although without putting forward any deadlines.
"We managed to expand the vaccination network at country level, both through the help that has been given to us by several countries, among which we highlight the United States of America, Portugal and China, as well as the fact that we, The Angolan government, we are purchasing vaccines, (...) with financial means provided by the General State Budget," said the minister.
Carolina Cerqueira added that the Angolan authorities have also vaccinated a large number of nomadic populations, traditional groups that exist mainly in the south and southeast of Angola.
"We think that at the level of southern Africa, we are one of the countries that have the most positive results. In fact, from the neighboring countries, DRCongo and Congo Brazzaville, we feel that Angola is indeed taking very seriously the containment of the pandemic", she concluded.
