Harare (New Ziana) – At least 107 Zimbabweans succumbed to Covid-19 in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, the highest number of deaths recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, the Ministry of Health and Child Care has said.

Harare Province recorded the highest number of fatalities at 54, followed by Mashonaland West Province which lost 14 people.

At least 1767 new Covid-19 infections were recorded on the same day pushing the country’s cumulative total to cross the 100 000 mark and now stands at 101 711.

In a daily update, the Ministry said the new cases were recorded mainly in the country’s hotspot areas.

These are Hurungwe (35), Kariba (4), Makonde (59), Bindura (25), Centenary (27), Marondera (75), Murehwa (58), Bikita (25), Chiredzi (31), Harare (438), Bulawayo’s northern suburbs (55), Nkulumane (24) and Emakhandeni (41).

The increase in Covid-19 fatalities comes as government announced an extension of the COVID-19 level 4 lockdown regulations to enable authorities to strengthen efforts to contain the third wave of the pandemic.

Government imposed a nationwide lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of the pandemic, and embarked on mass vaccinations with President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying at least 1 million Zimbabweans should be inoculated during that period.

As of Tuesday, about 1 522 150 had received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while 694 685 got their second dose.

According to the Ministry of Health, Zimbabwe has so far received slightly over 5.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, enough to inoculate 2.6 million people. These include donations and those procured by government.

On Wednesday, Zimbabwe expects a delivery of 800,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to boost the nationwide vaccination programme.

At least 10 million people are expected to be vaccinated by the end of 2021.

New Ziana