Bedding Crisis Hits Beitbridge Isolation Centre

A total of eighteen Zimbabwean nationals who arrived back into the country through the South African border are faced with a bedding crisis after it emerged that they are currently sleeping on the floor, together with children, at a Covid-19 isolation centre in Beitbridge.
The prevailing scenario at Beitbridge Rainbow Hotel isolation centre comes hard on the heels of the delayed delivery of a consignment of 40 double beds, mattresses and 1 640 blankets which were pledged by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA).
As the Mirror reports, there is also a crisis of other basic facilities required for decent human habitation at the isolation facility. It is also reported that the centre has no running water, a situation attributed to the failure by Beitbridge municipality to deal with the water crisis bedevilling the border town.
To make matters worse, the only borehole which was being used by the isolation centre to supplement water supplies at the facility has also broken down.
“We do not have beds but we have made appeals to various stakeholders,” Provincial Development Coordinator for Matabeleland South, Sithandiwe Ncube said.
The centre, a 140-roomed abandoned hotel, is also currently understaffed and ill-equipped with no ICU equipment and ventilators. There is also lack of cooking utensils at the isolation centre.

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