WITH the country continuing to register alarming numbers of people getting infected and succumbing to the lethal coronavirus, health experts have delivered bad news: things will get worse before they get better.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, the health experts
also reiterated that the continuing lack of discipline among Zimbabweans was a
major exacerbating factor for the pandemic in the country.
This comes as the government has escalated its efforts to
procure much-needed vaccines, which President Emmerson Mnangagwa says will be
imported into the country as soon as possible — to curb the local spread of the
killer virus.
On Monday, the country recorded its worst daily fatalities
toll to date, with 70 people succumbing to the disease — and surpassing the
previous high of 60 fatalities that was recorded two weeks ago.
Of concern to both authorities and health experts is the
fact that the Covid-19 death toll has more than trebled over the past three
weeks — jumping from the total of 369 fatalities which were registered between
March last year and January 1 this year, to a worrying 1 075 deaths as of
yesterday.
And with deaths remaining in the double figure range,
doctors predicted more fatalities ahead yesterday, before the disease is
brought under control.
“This is just the beginning. When a pandemic hits a
community, there will be loads and loads of deaths and we are not even close to
where the pandemic can go,” highly-regarded Mpilo Hospital acting chief
executive, Solwayo Ngwenya, told the Daily News.
“We are talking of double figures now, but the deaths are
going to increase and soon we will be talking of triple figures a day.
“What we are seeing now are called index deaths. We cannot
expect deaths to decrease anytime soon. We actually have to expect more deaths,
especially with the way people are behaving towards the virus.
“We are going to experience the consequences of us allowing
the virus to spread. We have not seen the worst of it yet,” Ngwenya further
told the Daily News.
The secretary-general of the Senior Hospital Doctors
Association (SHDA), Aaron Musara, concurred with Ngwenya warning that poor
discipline and the lack of adherence to current restrictions would fuel
Covid-19 infections and deaths in the country.
“Currently, there is no adherence to control measures to an
acceptable level, yet strict adherence to the preventative measures against
Covid-19 is one effective way to bring down death figures.
“People are not following Covid-19 rules and as long as
people are flouting the control regulations, Covid-19 cases and deaths will
continue to increase,” he said.
On his part, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR), Norman Matara, attributed the
ongoing high coronavirus fatalities to late admissions at hospitals and “too
much trust in” home remedies by some citizens.
“A lot of people are delaying going to hospitals and when
they do, it will be too late, which explains why deaths are increasing.
“The health system also needs to be attended to before
things get much worse than they already are. A lot of people would have
survived and in future will survive if there are enough resources in hospitals.
“The costs in many hospitals are also not allowing an
ordinary person to get treatment in those hospitals that are taking care of
Covid-19 patients, which means that they will just suffer at home till they
die,” Matara told the Daily News.
This comes as Zimbabwe is set to receive at least three
million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as part of the World Health
Organisation-led Covax programme.
Apart from WHO, Russia and China have also approached the
government about supplying vaccines to tackle Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Speaking at the weekend, Mnangagwa said the government had
engaged countries that had developed vaccines, to ensure that Zimbabwe gets
enough doses to administer to as many people as possible.
“Help is on the way. Your government is doing all it can to
ensure our nation is defended and protected,” he said, adding that frontline
health workers would be the first to get the doses.
“Once we receive the vaccine, and it will be quite soon,
they (health workers) will be the first ones to be inoculated,” Mnangagwa
added.
This comes as the second wave coronavirus drumfire has
deepened since the turn of the New Year, with the global pandemic’s local death
toll now having passed the 1 000 mark.
It also comes as the deadly virus has so far claimed the
lives of four government ministers, with many more said to be bed-ridden in
hospitals.
Such has been the devastating effect of the virus that the
country’s major hospitals are now struggling to deal with the high numbers of
patients battling the deadly respiratory disease, who require admission.
In addition to being unable to take more patients,
stretched private hospitals are also charging hefty fees which are beyond the
reach of the majority — with some of them demanding anything between US$1 500
and US$10 000 upfront from patients for admissions only.
Zimbabwe has entered the final week of its stiffened
lockdown which a large cross-section of Zimbabweans — including medical experts
— want to be tightened further in light of the runaway deaths and rapidly
spreading infections. Daily News
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