Mpilo Central Hospital acting chief executive officer
Solwayo Ngwenya , whose predictions on deadly COVID-19 waves based on
scientific analysis and the situation on the ground have come to pass, said
Zimbabweans should remain focused as the “signals were showing terrible danger
ahead”.
“Coronavirus: to all my close relatives, few friends, and
close ardent followers I don’t know how to reach you without causing alarm to
the faint-hearted, but things look bleak ahead,” he posted on his Twitter
handle.
“May you all remain focused on the virus wherever you are?
The signals show terrible danger ahead.”
The last crippling COVID-19 wave was fuelled by the opening
of schools without adequate preparation, according to experts, and government has
done it again after opening schools for examination classes on Monday.
The rest of the learners will be back in school on Monday
next week. Teacher unions yesterday said it was clear that the health and
safety of teachers and pupils, let alone their welfare, was not a priority to
the Primary and Secondary Education ministry and government.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira
Zhou said if the welfare of teachers and pupils was important, there could have
been concerted efforts to decentralise the vaccination process as well as the
inoculation of a considerable number of teachers.
“For the ministry to open schools with such low levels of
vaccination, let alone allow conglomeration of 140 000 teachers, five to six
million pupils and over 80 000 ancillary staff in schools without testing for
COVID-19 and provision of COVID-19 abatement equipment like running water in
schools, is suicidal,” he said.
“The net result would be a quantum leap of COVID-19 cases
in schools, where bloated classes and congestion in hostels are other vectors
leading to an increase of cases. There is a school in Manicaland (province)
where Grade 7 students have already tested positive to COVID-19 this week.”
Zimbabwe Teachers Association spokesperson Goodwill
Taderera added: “In a situation where teachers are coming from different
directions, even the learners themselves coming from different directions,
chances are they are also taking with them the different variants of the virus
to the schools, so it means different variants are going to be spread.
“That is why we are asking the government to come up with a
special programme for teachers to vaccinate them, particularly at their
workstations.”
Agnes Mahomva, the national COVID-19 response chief
co-ordinator, said there was no need to panic because government had made
thorough preparations, working with the United Nations Children’s Fund, for the
reopening of schools.
She said set guidelines were being followed. Mahomva said
schools were reopened at the end of the third wave, and not in the midst, after
government had strengthened measures to combat the spread of the virus in
schools.
“Government is there to protect its citizens and that is
what we are doing,” she said, adding that there had always been potential for a
new wave.
On reports that Grade 7 pupils at a school in Manicaland
province had tested positive to the virus, Mahomva said: “If there is such a
case, the Ministry of Health is there in schools working with the Ministry of
Education. They know the guidelines to follow. There is no need to panic.”
Zimbabwe has in the past few weeks registered a decline in
infections and deaths, which has resulted in the reopening of schools and
resumption of sporting activities across the country.
Since the first case was recorded in March last year,
Zimbabwe has so far recorded 125 118 positive cases and 4 449 deaths. Newsday
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