A HEALTH worker who tested positive for Covid-19 violated
self-isolation measures by roaming around the city, exposing residents to the
deadly pandemic, a development that has seen authorities roping in the security
services to ensure compliance.
Patient Number 15, who initially told the Bulawayo Rapid
Response Team that she was a nurse, is a physiotherapist at a local hospital,
it has emerged.
On Monday, the health worker tested positive for Covid-19
and was told to self-isolate at home as her condition is mild.
It is alleged that instead of self-quarantining at her
home, the patient was spotted at Bradfield Shopping Centre by residents and
there are times when surveillance teams could not find her at home.
The surveillance teams are yet to establish which other
places she visited.
Her alleged behaviour exposed Bulawayo residents to
Covid-19 which has claimed three people in the country and more than 115 000
globally.
A Covid-19 positive patient is expected to stay at home and
adhere to self-isolation measures so that the virus does not spread.
Bulawayo City Council health services director Dr Edwin
Sibanda said the local rapid response team was investigating her case after
receiving information that she did not comply with lockdown measures.
He confirmed that Patient Number 15 violated self-isolation
measures as she moved out of her residence.
Dr Sibanda said security forces have been roped in to
ensure compliance with regulations.
“We have since communicated the same to Joint Operations
Command (JOC) and JOC is going to take action starting tomorrow. If it is
maintenance of a restriction order, they will take care of that. They have the
means and the authority to do so and communication about all positive people
and their need to be isolated home, they will assist us on that,” said Dr Sibanda.
“This is why we said we need to look at it together with
the security officials. We are going to be looking at the Statutory Instrument
that brought about the lockdown and see part of these things that need to be
enforced or improved.”
Dr Sibanda said they will soon come up with a graphic
illustration of where positive patients travelled to.
“We are yet to hear of how many visits she made if she made
any and who she contacted during those visits. I’m not privy to how many people
she visited but all what I know is that she is reported to have been found
missing at her house by the surveillance team,” he said.
Dr Sibanda said after realising that some people were not
complying with self-isolation regulations, they resolved to start admitting
positive patients at Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital.
The violation of the restriction order by the health worker
comes at a time when Qalisa Retirement Village in Bulawayo has said it was
cooperating with the local rapid response team to ensure all its residents are
tested for Covid-19. The retirement village has so far recorded three positive
cases.
One of them, Ian Hyslop, succumbed to the virus on April 4.
The village is one of the places Government is targeting for mass testing.
Qalisa Village chairperson Dr Catherine Hewitt, opening up for the first time
to Chronicle, said all residents at the retirement home are ready to be tested
for Covid-19. She said the retirement home remains on lockdown since March 26
to protect residents, most of whom who are fragile and vulnerable to Covid-19
due to their advanced ages.
“We limit traffic in and out of the village and asked all
residents over 70 years not to go out of the gates, as they are the most
vulnerable. We put in place systems which will assist the elderly to have
groceries and medicines delivered, and bills paid. Should residents feel at all
unwell, we discussed with them that they should call the resident doctor who
will attend to them and then consult telephonically with their personal
doctor,” she said.
Dr Hewitt said those needing medical treatment were now
depending on the community’s in-house doctor who has been provided with
protective clothing.
She said they were putting up all the necessary procedures
to ensure that the second patient is well catered for.
“The patient has been part of the Qalisa lockdown since the
26th of March and when she exhibited symptoms. We completely isolated her in
her home, with her only contact being the Qalisa doctor in full PPE. The Qalisa
doctor, in consultation with her specialist physician, attends to her twice
daily and as needed, ensuring she is fully protected in PPE. In addition, there
is a telephone roster where her family phones her every three hours and her
food is sanitised and delivered to her door,” she said.
Dr Hewitt said Qalisa Retirement Village was alive to the
fact that Covid-19 was an emerging disease which might mutate on a daily basis
hence the need to constantly engage Government on its management.
She said she will not comment on negligence levelled against
the village management by the Hyslop family. Chronicle
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