Zim in biggest Covid-19 death spike

Harare, (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe recorded 12 Covid-19 deaths in the week between July 13-20, taking the overall tally of fatalities since the first fatality was recorded in late March to 53, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said on Friday.

The causes of death, authorities said, were only established after post-mortems were carried out, with the deceased having presented themselves at hospitals with respiratory symptoms, synonymous with Covid-19.

The latest fatalities, the biggest figure to be announced in one day, came as the country saw the number of confirmed cases spike to over 3 000, after 213 new cases were recorded on Thursday.

“Today (Friday) we report the result of 12 deaths which occurred from July 13-20, 2020 in the community and on admission to casualty departments at Parirenyatwa and Sally Mugabe (former Harare Central) hospitals after investigations and postmortems were done,” the ministry said.

Total confirmed cases jumped to 3 092 after 205 new cases of local transmission and eight imported were recorded on Thursday.

At least 37 new recoveries were also registered, taking the total of those who have healed to 924.

Zimbabwe is under a lockdown aimed at curtailing the spread of the disease which however is appearing ineffective as cases of new infections spread exponentially.

Experts say failure by the public to adhere to set health regulations chiefly social distancing and wearing of masks, account for the meteoric rise in new cases especially those of local transmission, which now stand at 2 042 out of the total of 3 092.

On Wednesday, late agriculture minister Perrance Shiri (65) became the latest high profile figure to succumb to the disease.
He was declared a national hero.
New Ziana