“Govt worried about spike in Covid-19 local transmissions”

Harare, (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Monday the government is concerned with the recent spike in cases of local transmissions of Covid-19, urging communities not to harbour people returning from abroad who will have escaped from or not passed through quarantine centres.

Zimbabwe’s Covid-19 confirmed cases breached the 700 point mark on Sunday, to total 716, with up to two-thirds of the cases having been imported.

Local transmission cases have however been on a steady rise, with over 20 recorded in the past week.

Speaking after receiving an assortment of goods from various organisations, President Mnangagwa said it was imperative that those returning to the country from abroad go through the mandatory 21-day quarantine period.

“We are getting worried because we now see a small trend of internal transmission. We are doing our best to do contact tracing,” he said.

“We would like to appeal to our people, families, communities that if a family member has just arrived from abroad, we must insist to find out if they have a certificate showing they have been quarantined for the required period and have been released. This is for the protection of the family itself and for the protection of the community.”

President Mnangagwa said there was still a large number of Zimbabweans outside the country awaiting repatriation.

He lauded the local donors who included the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) which provided ZW$1 million towards the fight against the disease.

The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society which sourced five ventilators to be used in local hospitals, Bulawayo based firm Viking Hardware, as well as the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe which respectively donated an assortment of personal protective equipment and food stuffs, were among the donors.

Health personnel, who are key in the fight against the pandemic, were some of the beneficiaries of the donations as the government was trying its best to take care of their welfare, President Mnangagwa said.

The donations, he said, would help minimise the impact of the pandemic.
New Ziana