Health experts have warned that official COVID-19 statistics published by the government are just one tip of the iceberg amid fears that many instances will be tested as infections and deaths in Zimbabwe continue on an upward trajectory.
BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA / REX MPHISA
Zimbabwe has recorded 1,713 COVID-19 infections and 26 deaths to date, with Harare and Bulawayo being the epicenters of the disease with 489 and 525 respectively.
Zimbabwe’s Association of Physicians for Human Rights secretary Norman Matara called on the Ministry of Health to intensify testing in other provinces.
“We have recorded the highest numbers in Bulawayo and Harare, but we are not testing in other cities or provinces.
If you take a look at the latest update of the ministry, only 39 tests have been carried out in other provinces, so it seems that Harare and Bulawayo are the main hotspots, but we are also expanding the tests in other provinces because we would possibly be that Harare and Bulawayo are the only hot spots. Other provinces would possibly have infections, but they don’t do enough testing,” he said.
Matara said blockage is vital to minimize infections, but most vitally to reduce the infection rate and flatten the curve so that certain hospitals can cope.
“Our hospitals are not working at this time. The government’s first call is to make sure the hospitals are up and running. Hospitals are not in position, nurses are not working, doctors threaten to attack, there are no appliances in hospitals, we have “a fitness formula that is not in a position to treat a serious case of COVID-19, so we want to make sure that our fitness formula is functional and has EPI (personal protective device) for all fitness workers”. Matara said.
Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, at a post-National Working Group meeting on COVID-19 yesterday, expressed fear of local broadcasts, which “increased exponentially from 286 to 791 in a week.”
The national brokerage is pressing that to reduce the next transmissions, remote to others at home, asymptomatic patients, adhere to the situations and measures agreed with the fitness authorities.
“Measures are being put in place to penalise those who flout isolation regulations,” she said.
The working group also ordered Chinhoyi University of Technology, which recorded an infection, to take moderate measures to close.
The government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, facilitates the dispatch of Zimbabwean scholars returning from all over the world, repatriation flights, the minister added.
Responding to the increase in COVID-19 instances, Permanent Information Secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana said in a tweet yesterday: “There are cases of death waiting for the effects of the evidence to determine whether COVID-19 was the cause. Security has intensified. to make sure that only one must-have is allowed through CBD. We apologize for any inconvenience ».
The Executive Director of the Community Health Working Group, Itai Rusike, said Zimbabwe expanded an effective strategy opposed to COVID-19 on detection, case detection and quarantine.
“Areas with higher population density and local COVID-19 infections such as Bulawayo, Harare, adding border towns such as Beitbridge, Plumtree and Victoria Falls, would possibly require stricter blockade given high levels of local transmission and higher mortality rates,” Rusike said.
He said there was a pressing need for the government to prioritize high-risk personnel, such as front-line fitness personnel, by offering PPE and a paint environment.
Rusike also stated that Zupco’s subsidized buses were overloaded and did not have the ability to serve the public of travellers, hence the need for the government to allow other operators to start operating in strict situations to avoid the existing scenario where passengers do not respect the social distance on open trucks and trucks.
“In the absence of a vaccine, Zimbabweans will have to adopt the new popular and the government will have to impose mandatory masking in public spaces and the general public will have to continue to practice social estrangement and the best degrees of no – public hygiene, especially normally. Wash your hands with running water and soap and alcohol-based disinfectants,” he added.
A senior health official in Beitbridge also called for testing of all soldiers and police officers currently deployed to the border town after South Africa withdrew 40 members of its army posted on the border with Zimbabwe for testing positive to COVID-19.
South Africa, sitting at number five on the global infection statistics board after the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, has over 364 328 COVID-19 cases and 5 033 deaths. Most cases recorded in Zimbabwe were from returnees from South Africa, Botswana, among other countries.
“It’s common cause these police interact with the same people that may have exposed SA soldiers,” said the Health official speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Several SA institutions, including their side of the border post, Musina Police Station and several others, have been closed for decontamination when some staff members tested positive and that could easily be our case,” the official said.
A senior Masvingo police official also expressed fear that the state security force of the workers had been exposed to the virus.
“The same people travelling between Zimbabwe and SA interact with officials and people of both countries and can easily expose those on the front, thus spreading the disease. Obviously if SA soldiers were exposed by travellers, the same could have exposed our soldiers and police too,” the police officer said.
The official said it is in the national interest to check on all police officers and infantrymen who had recently been to Beitbridge.
“It’s either that or we’re all going to be sick. Now we will have to make an ambitious resolution. We listened to their activities in Beitbridge,” he said.
A survey by Bulawayo-based civil society group, Habakkuk Trust, revealed that Matobo and Bulilima districts in Matabeleland South were receiving an influx of illegal returnees, mostly from Botswana and South Africa.
In its report, Habakkuk Trust said communities living along the Zimbabwe-Botswana border were living in fear of an implosion of the coronavirus pandemic as the number of illegal returnees in the areas continues to increase.
Some law enforcement forces of workers deployed along the border have been accused of accepting bribes to allow illegal entry.