With limited testing capabilities and a pathetic health system, it is irresponsible to trust official Government records on Covid-19 (coronavirus) as the deadly epidemic ‘might already be in the country’, a former cabinet minister has said.
Fugitive former Higher and Tertiary Education deputy minister Godfrey Gandawa said the possibility is high that Zimbabwe already has Covid-19 cases despite Government insinuations that the country has no recorded case of the epidemic.
Gandawa said it was irresponsible for Zimbabweans to trust their Government with coronavirus records.
“A woman who’d been cleared #COVID19 negative in Zimbabwe later tested positive after she arrived in the UK. A German citizen tested positive in Namibia having just travelled from Zimbabwe. Both may have infected those they were in contact with in Zimbabwe”, Gandawa said on Twitter.
He said Zimbabwe’s ‘testing capabilities mean we have been unable to roll out an aggressive testing campaign as in South Korea where around 15 000 people can be tested daily’.
“The virus might already be here, only undetected. We must take drastic action even at the risk of arousing public panic”, he said.
Signing off with the hashtag, #DontDelay, Gandawa added:
“Given our creaking health system, we need to go above and beyond in taking precautionary measures, primarily through aggressive social distancing and good hygiene. Schools that can close immediately should do so, those who can work from home must do the same”.
He also described as irresponsible, waiting on Zimbabwe’s Government to lead and take steps in limiting the transmission of coronavirus.
First reported in the Wuhan Province in China December last year, the deadly Covid-19 has now been confirmed in a number of African countries including Zimbabwe’s neighbors South Africa where figures of infected people have surpassed one hundred.
Other African countries where cases have been confirmed include Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Ghana.
Last week, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Guinea also announced their first confirmed cases of coronavirus putting the tally of affected African countries to 18.
Zwnews
