Harare (New Ziana)-The spike in Covid-19 cases pushed by the Omicron variant has seen Harare residents flooding the City Council testing centres, an official has said.

This has prompted the local authority to ensure that testing was done at all polyclinics to decongest the major hospitals.

Council spokesperson Michael Chideme told New Ziana that the local authority facilities were serving a high number of people seeking testing services since the discovery of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

“We have high numbers of people coming for testing at our centres but we are managing to cope with the numbers,” he said.

Chideme dismissed reports that some testing centres were overwhelmed because some nurses were in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.

“We are not overwhelmed. Yes, we have nurses who have tested positive for Covid and they are in isolation,” he said.

In a post on its twitter page, the Council said all its clinics were conducting rapid antigen Covid-19 tests.

“All polyclinics doing rapid antigen tests. PCR is being done at Warren Park, Mabvuku, Mbare, Wilkins and Beatrice. Residents urged to visit nearest clinics to avoid congesting one site and risk contracting and spreading the disease,” it said.

On Tuesday alone, Zimbabwe tested 11 535 people for Covid-19, of which 2 864 were done in Harare province.

New Ziana