The Presidential Task-force on COVID-19 says Malawi is now back to level 2 measures in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic as numbers of those contracting the virus are now on the rise.

Speaking in Lilongwe, the Minister of Health who is also the Co-Chair for the Presidential Task-Force on COVID-19, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, said it is worrisome that the number of those contracting COVID-19 are increasing as in the past 3 days the numbers have increased 10 times.

“The measures are the same, people should not relax observing social distance, wearing masks and avoid public gatherings,” Chiponda said.

Following the new level of measures on COVID-19, the task-force has reduced the number of people attending public gatherings such as conferences to 100 and outside gatherings such as sporting activities to 250.

According to the Minister of Health, the capacity for buses will now be at 60% to reduce the spread of the virus.

Chiponda also said all political rallies will not be allowed as people do not follow the measures of preventing the virus.

On entertainment, the minister said all entertainment activities should close at 10 pm.

And for international travel, borders will remain open but those entering into the country should be vaccinated and should have negative Covid-19 test certificates obtained in the past 72 hours of their day of travelling.

The Minister said all the new measures will be effective Monday, 20 December.

The minister has therefore advised people to get the COVID-19 jab as the Ministry is still having stocks of the vaccines.

The task-force has also emphasised mandatory vaccination for public workers saying it has requested the Ministry of Justice to scrutinise the position so that this can be effective by January next year.