A PERSON suspected to be infected with coronavirus reportedly escaped on
Sunday from WilkinsHospital in Harare before further tests could be conducted,
Health minister Obadiah Moyo has confirmed.
The 26-year-old person, who is of Thai origin and had
travelled from his home country, is the fourth person suspected of being
infected with the novel virus, which has, in the past two months, grown into a
global epidemic.
The city health director Prosper Chonzi also confirmed the
case, saying the man had earlier presented himself at the privately-owned
Trauma Centre complaining of a sore throat and a cough.
He was then referred to Wilkins since Thailand is one of the countries with confirmed cases of Covid-19.
“However, the man, who had been accompanied by his father
and two other Zimbabweans, checked himself out while authorities were readying
to collect some specimens,” Chonzi said.
“The attending staff was gearing up with protective
clothing when the man walked out and, along with his people, sped off.”
Chonzi said the police had been notified and they were
following up on the contact details that the man gave immigration officials
when he came into the country.
“However, we are not particularly worried about this case
because he came into the country on February 14 aboard Emirates, who are very
thorough on these issues. He also passed through Dubai, which has stringent
measures, so we are not too worried,” he said.
Chonzi, however, said the man had passed the 14-day
incubation period and was highly unlikely to pose any serious danger.
“The tests that we wanted to conduct were for our own
satisfaction since the 14-day incubation had passed without him exhibiting any
signs of sickness,” he said.
Government has been accused of hiding vital information on
suspected coronavirus cases, with human rights lawyers and doctors threatening
to take legal action to force government to release information timeously.
In yet another case, officials from Chiredzi have also
announced that three people who recently returned from China a week ago were in
self-isolation.
The three were said to be staying in Chiredzi’s Tshovani
high-density suburb while in self-quarantine.
The announcement was made by Chiredzi town secretary
Charles Muchatukwa in a speech read on his behalf during a council service
meeting last week.
However, Chiredzi General Hospital superintendent David
Tarumbwa dismissed the report as reckless and said the issue could cause
unnecessary public panic.
“I don’t know where this is coming from because a health
official was supposed to be there when this announcement was made,” he said.
Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana denied
receiving information from Chiredzi concerning the three cases.
The Health ministry on Sunday released a statement stating
that all identified suspected cases had been appropriately followed up, tested
and found to be negative of Covid-19.
“All tests were conducted by well-trained local laboratory
teams. Additional samples from all suspects’ cases are being sent for
confirmation testing by the Regional Reference Laboratory. To date, all samples
have tested negative for Covid-19,” the statement read.
African Health ministers are at an emergency meeting in
Ethiopia to map out a co-ordinated action plan to prepare and respond to
Covid-19 infections in Africa.
South Africa has recorded four more cases of coronavirus,
bringing the total to seven.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize announced yesterday that four
more people who were part of a group of 10 travellers who recently returned to
South Africa from Italy — the same group with which South Africa’s first three
patients were part of — had tested positive.
Nigeria also recorded its second case of Covid-19. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment