CHIRUNGA CAMPUS DISINFECTED

During the week of 3rd to 7th August 2020, Chancellor College underwent a disinfection exercise, which saw a number of experts coming to campus and spraying strategic areas to reduce the potential for the spread of COVID-19. Th­is happened at a time when cases of the disease were on the rise in Zomba.

Th­e college had reportedly recorded some positive cases, which prompted the administration to swiftly carry out a disinfection exercise in liaison with the Ministry of Health’s Zomba District Health Office (DHO). A member of the college’s COVID-19 Technical Advisory Team, Dr. Placid Mpeketula, who coordinated the exercise, said the aim was to take a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the college’s staff against contracting COVID-19 through touching surfaces that might have been exposed to the virus.

“As you know, the College had closed for some time. Nevertheless, essential services were still taking place and at that point in time cases were increasing in Zomba. So, doors and doorknobs, and passages as well as frequently visited places were thought to be high risk areas worthy of disinfecting out of abundance of caution”, Dr. Mpeketula explained.

Disinfection of surfaces is a highly recommended exercise from the Ministry of Health. ­That is why the college undertook this exercise in conjunction with the DHO who provided the technical know-how. However, the College played a significant role in providing resources for the disinfection.

Said Dr. Mpeketula, “First, all the materials (chemicals) used to produce the disinfectant were provided by the college. Secondly, the campus is vast and has lots of buildings and it could have been a daunting task if the DHO team were to be let alone to do the exercise.

He added that the DHO played the crucial role of drilling and training the Chanco disinfection staff, and most importantly harmonized the approach to the exercise in order for the College team to operate according to national guidelines as recommended by the Ministry of Health. He further said the team from DHO specified the needed chemicals and the entire process of how to come up with the disinfectant. 

“­They demonstrated the processes and together with the Chanco team, proceeded to make volumes enough for the exercise as well as conducted the actual exercise together with the Chanco team”, he concluded.