This picture was taken in January 2021, as part of an assignment to photograph a Covid-19 ward at Queen Elizabeth Central hospital in Blantyre, southern Malawi. Malawi registered its first Covid-19 case in April 2020, but despite the many challenges the country had in controlling the pandemic, the spread of the virus was slower than in many other countries.
In 2020, life was almost normal – there were no lockdowns, markets and other public spaces were open. Then in January 2021, Malawi experienced its biggest surge in Covid cases, with the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe accounting for most of the total.
