The deportees are isolated at Mosi-oa-Tunya High School in
Victoria Falls which was identified as a quarantine centre for Matabeleland
North for all returnees from Botswana, Zambia and Namibia.
Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director Dr Purgie
Chimberengwa said the Rapid Response Team collected RDT samples of one of the
deportees who tested positive after the RDT.
This comes as DNA and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
results of two other suspected cases that had tested positive on RDT in Umguza
and Tsholotsho came out negative.
“One of the returnees at the quarantine centre tested
positive after RDT and the Rapid Response Team has taken samples for DNA PCR
testing and we are waiting for results,” said Dr Chimberengwa in an interview.
More deportees are expected in Victoria Falls, according to
officials.
Dr Chimberengwa said a sample from Nyamandlovu, Umguza
district and another from Tsholotsho that had initially tested positive after RDT
tests came out negative after DNA PCR tests.
“The province is doing RDT and sending samples to Bulawayo
for confirmation. We did RDT tests on a family of five in Umguza and another
person in Tsholotsho. The Umguza suspected case was linked to Case Number 14
who had visited friends in Nyamandlovu before knowing his status. The whole
family of five was tested and one tested positive. We sent the samples for
confirmation and results came back negative which meant it was a false positive
result.
“The Tsholotsho case is that of a TB patient who was unwell
and visited the hospital where he tested positive on RDT but the DNA PCR
results came back negative hence he was cleared,” said Dr Chimberengwa.
Meanwhile, two Hwange residents died after a short illness
in separate incidents last week after complaining of flu-like conditions which
the Rapid Response Team treated as suspected cases of Covid-19, but results
show that they did not die from the virus.
Dr Chimberengwa said results showed that the deceased, a
woman aged 34 from Cinderella and a 62-year-old man from Madumabisa died of
other health complications.
“The deaths were not Covid-19 related but everyone was
panicking. We had to follow procedure to treat every sudden death as a
suspected positive case so that we follow all procedures but the samples tested
negative,” said Dr Chimberengwa.
He said a St Mary’s woman also from Hwange who died at home
early last week did not die from Covid-19. Chronicle
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