News / National
Zimbabwe scores successes with high Covid-19 recovery rate
08 Sep 2020 at 06:23hrs | Views
Zimbabwe is among African countries that have managed to minimise the impact of Covid-19 and should continue to come up with strategies to ensure that the rate of infection declines, while enforcing the rules that have already shown their effectiveness.
The chairperson of the Covid-19 inter-ministerial task-force, Zanu PF national chairman Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, said despite numerous challenges that bedevilled the health sector, Government was committed to continuing the fight against the pandemic.
"We have been registering a higher rate of recoveries in Zimbabwe and this is encouraging," she said.
"The interventions we are implementing are helping. "If Government had not reacted swiftly, we would have seen a higher number of deaths, but 80 percent are recovering and most of our cases are mild. About three percent are the ones that are critical, but these are also recovering.
"We should, however, not relax, but continue observing the regulations that have been put in place."
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the Government was working on increasing the testing capacity at all health institutions despite the labour shortages being faced.
Front-line staff needed continuous testing, and this would be availed, as well as personal protective equipment to ensure they are safe as they carry out their duties, she said.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the flaunting of regulations by shebeen operators and pirate taxis needed to be addressed as they might reverse the progress made so far.
"We understand that people are still opening up their bars and shebeens are operating in residential areas," she said.
"Even at funerals, people are not respecting social distancing and we have seen huge numbers of people congregating at such places.
"People are also moving between cities and they are using these mushikashikas and kombis that have resurfaced. People are not following guidelines and this could be a source of new infections. We will need to discuss as a task-force how best we can deal with this."
The chairperson of the Covid-19 inter-ministerial task-force, Zanu PF national chairman Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, said despite numerous challenges that bedevilled the health sector, Government was committed to continuing the fight against the pandemic.
"We have been registering a higher rate of recoveries in Zimbabwe and this is encouraging," she said.
"The interventions we are implementing are helping. "If Government had not reacted swiftly, we would have seen a higher number of deaths, but 80 percent are recovering and most of our cases are mild. About three percent are the ones that are critical, but these are also recovering.
"We should, however, not relax, but continue observing the regulations that have been put in place."
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the Government was working on increasing the testing capacity at all health institutions despite the labour shortages being faced.
Front-line staff needed continuous testing, and this would be availed, as well as personal protective equipment to ensure they are safe as they carry out their duties, she said.
Muchinguri-Kashiri said the flaunting of regulations by shebeen operators and pirate taxis needed to be addressed as they might reverse the progress made so far.
"We understand that people are still opening up their bars and shebeens are operating in residential areas," she said.
"Even at funerals, people are not respecting social distancing and we have seen huge numbers of people congregating at such places.
"People are also moving between cities and they are using these mushikashikas and kombis that have resurfaced. People are not following guidelines and this could be a source of new infections. We will need to discuss as a task-force how best we can deal with this."
Source - the herald
