Government has quarantined 287 people including 15 foreign
nationals at various places across the country as a precautionary measure
against the spread of the Covid-19 diseases.
The 287 include seven locals who returned from the US, 265
who were in Botswana and 15 suspected Ethiopian nationals.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information,
Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana confirmed the development
on his twitter handle.
“Government takes the risk of potential imported
transmission seriously. We have 7 returnees who arrived from the US including 6
cruise ship workers who are in compulsory quarantine at a lodge in Harare.
Those from Botswana are at Plumtree High and ZIPAM will be used for new
arrivals,” Mr Mangwana said.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Mangwana said the people would
be tested for the diseases and quarantined for 21 days.
“The 265 people that returned from Botswana are quarantined
at Plumtree High School and St Christopher Primary School, the 15 suspected
Ethiopian nationals that were intercepted in Gwanda are at Guyu Training Centre
awaiting verification from the Ethiopian Embassy on their citizenship status.
There is a possibility that some of them could be from Eritrea or Somalia,” he
said.
Mr Mangwana added that the people were being looked after
by the Department of Social Welfare and thanked the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
and Silo Foods Industries for providing blankets and food for the quarantined
people.
He said a number of centres, including facilities at the
Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management in Darwendale would
be opened to cater for returning residents while they are in quarantine.
“We can’t stop Zimbabweans from coming home. Our
constitution does not permit. But we can protect others by compulsorily
quarantining them for 21 days before allowing them to mingle,” he said.
Apart from quarantining those coming from abroad,
Government has also moved hundreds of homeless people in Harare to various
centres on the outskirts of the city as part of measures to contain the spread
of the Covid 19 disease.
The people are being accommodated in Mt Hampden, Ruwa
Rehabilitation Centre and Jamaica Inn while plans are afoot to open more such
centres across the country to to cater for homeless people. Herald
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