THREE medical students from the National University of
Science Technology (Nust) have tested Covid-19 positive bringing the cumulative
number of cases which have been recorded in Bulawayo to 20.
The trio was tested just before resuming their studies. The
medical school is housed at Mpilo Central Hospital where the final year
students were screened.
One of the students has been admitted to Thorngrove
Infectious Diseases Hospital in the city. The city is, however, mulling moving all infected people to
Elangeni Training Centre for easier monitoring.
Officials are following up on the latest eight cases which
include four patients from Mpilo Central Hospital.
Speaking during a donation handover ceremony at the Large
City Hall yesterday, Bulawayo’s Director of Health Services Dr Edwin Sibanda
said: “There are 20 cases that have been recorded in Bulawayo and only one
death. Of the total, nine recovered, two are yet to be tested this week to
establish if they are recovered. There are three students from Nust who had
come to resume their lessons and tested positive on arrival at the institution.
One was from Mutare, one from Mberengwa and the third one is from Bulawayo.
“One of the four Mpilo patients was discharged and sent to
Thorngrove hospital because his home environment was not conducive for
self-isolation-compared to others.”
He said going forward, the health department would want to
monitor infected people from one central place.
“We are at a stage where we would want to monitor all of
them easily and we may move all of them to Elangeni Training Centre until they
have recovered.”
Dr Sibanda emphasised the need for members of the public to
correctly and consistently use masks and practise social distancing.
He said the local authority had also activated five
additional rapid response teams to deal with the growing number of Covid-19
cases.
Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology
Development Minister, Professor Amon Murwira said he had not received any
information on the three Nust students.
“I am yet to be informed if ever that happened,” he said.
“So, in terms of generic story, we are going to do blended learning online and
offline. Universities have already started opening. There was a story where
someone went to court and lost the case on Friday claiming we do not know what
we were doing. The issue basically is when we do what we do we are cognisant of
the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Child Care and WHO. All I know is students will do blended
learning.”
Meanwhile, Stanbic Bank yesterday donated Personal
Protective Equipment (PPEs) to Thorngrove Infectious Diseases Hospital which
include suits, masks, face shields, goggles and gloves.
“The 400 suits, 3 000 surgical masks, 600 N95 masks, 125
face shields, 400 goggles and 4 000 gloves will come in handy for the frontline
staff manning the health institution. There are many frontline workers in need
of PPEs and to show our appreciation of their efforts, we are here to support
them with PPEs.,” said Ms Selisi Chavinda, a branch manager from the bank.
Stanbic has contributed to the purchase of PPEs and other
equipment through the provision of US$2.8 million credit and allocation of
foreign currency to its clients in the medical industry to acquire the needed
health care items to help fight Covid-19. Chronicle
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