In a Christmas message, João Lourenço said that after nearly two years of the covid-19 pandemic, which hit every country in the world with particular severity, it is heartbreaking to see that the year that just ended is not yet the year of return to normality.
According to João Lourenço, the reality of the facts in the world points to a very rapid spread of the SARS COV-2 virus in its most recent variant, which alerts "to the need to face the situation with the necessary seriousness".
"The vertiginous increase in the number of cases in recent days has led the Angolan authorities to introduce a set of preventive measures, which, if they rely on the cooperation of citizens, can guarantee us a smooth start to the year and make 2022 the year of the long-awaited return to normality", he stressed.
The head of state said that in addition to the restrictive and biosafety measures recommended by the competent authorities, mass vaccination of citizens continues to be the most effective measure in the fight against this pandemic, stressing that the country has vaccines in sufficient quantity and available. free of charge for all citizens residing in Angola.
"Once again, we call on citizens to attend vaccination posts to get the vaccine, and to bear in mind that only those who get the two shots of the vaccine are really protected, within the deadlines set by the health authorities", he said.
The President stressed that, in two years, this pandemic has damaged the lives of people, families, companies and the world's economies, regardless of its strength, reduced the production and supply of goods and services, increased the price of maritime freight and strangled the entire logistical chain of world trade, increasing unemployment and, consequently, poverty and hunger.
"In terms of economic growth, we expect a good year of 2022, but this forecast will only be achievable if we manage to get as close to normal as possible, with low levels of incidence of covid-19, so that companies produce essential goods and services for consumption and for export, thus guaranteeing the maintenance and creation of new jobs", he highlighted.
João Lourenço expressed a gesture of solidarity with bedridden patients, those interned in care homes for children and the elderly, the homeless, citizens deprived of their liberty, barracks and all those not mentioned, who for various reasons are they come deprived of family life.
"A word of encouragement and solidarity for the populations of southern Angola, Cunene, Namibe and Huíla, direct victims of climate change whose consequences are, in the specific case of these provinces, the severe and continuous drought that threatens people's lives and of cattle," he expressed.
