COMMERCIAL truckers and informal cross-border transporters who arrive at the country’s land ports of entry without Covid-19 clearance certificates will, with immediate effect, be quarantined for 10 days.
Government is tightening Covid-19 screening protocols for commercial
truck drivers and omalayitsha.
Of late, some of them have been arriving in the country
without the required Covid-19 clearance certificates which are issued when one
does a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test. At least 40 000 commercial trucks
pass through Beitbridge Border Post monthly.
The country has been recording increased infections and
deaths in the second wave of the global pandemic.
According to Beitbridge District Medical Officer (DMO), Dr
Lenos Samhere some of the drivers were disregarding the set processes, although
they would have been allocated funds to test before leaving the exporting
countries.
“As per the new order we will quarantine them for at least
10 days before we do rapid antigen test. This is so because our PCR machine can
process at least 90 samples at a time. In this case we can’t waste resources
(consumables) on fewer numbers, since the arrivals are very minimal. We
encourage them to comply with set standards and ensure they have the required
certificates to avoid inconveniences,” said the DMO.
Dr Samhere said the PCR certificates for commercial truck
drivers are valid for 30 days after which they should do another test. With
respect to omalayitsha, he said they should do retests after every two weeks.
He said the normal returnees arriving in the country were
being screened through the rapid antigens method.
“Those that test negative are dispatched to their homes
while those who tested positive for the condition are immediately put into
isolation.
“You will note that for commercial truck drivers and
cross-border transporters, we strictly require PCR obtained results as per the
current set guidelines,” said Dr Samhere.
Those being put in quarantine or isolation, are handled at
the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) hotel where over 14 000
Zimbabweans have passed through between April last year and January 2021.
Beitbridge also handles returnees in transit to Malawi and
Zambia. Chronicle
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