According to tabulations done by Sunday News from updates
provided by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the cases are about 300
percent more than what the country recorded in May. According to the data,
Zimbabwe in May recorded just 704 new cases while this month so far, the
country has recorded 2 374 new cases.
In terms of deaths, in May the country recorded 28 deaths,
while this month already 57 people have succumbed to the disease, which is an
increase of about 200 percent. For Bulawayo alone in May, 135 new cases and 11
deaths were recorded, while this month the city sits on 315 new cases and 21
deaths.
The new surge in cases has seen the country’s cumulative
cases hitting 41 335 from March last year, 37 143 recoveries and 1 656 deaths,
according to the Friday update from the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
There are also 61 Covid-19 patients admitted to the
country’s hospitals of which 25 are asymptomatic, 107 have moderate symptoms,
27 are deemed to be in a severe state, while two are admitted in the intensive
care unit.
As the country grapples with the increase in cases and
deaths due to Covid-19, it has also emerged that in Plumtree alone, there are 20
active cases of which 12 are hospitalised at the local isolation centre at
Plumtree District Hospital while eight are recovering from home. Mangwe
District Medical officer Dr Joe Nganono told Sunday News that they were
intensifying contact tracing as they move in to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“Currently we have 20 cases of which 12 of them are
admitted to the isolation centre and the rest are at home. Of the 20 cases,
eight are staff members from Plumtree Town Council water works who tested
positive last week. Most of the cases have mild symptoms and we continue to do
contact tracing as we have strengthened and intensified our Covid-19 testing
system,” said Dr Nganono.
The Government has responded to the surge of cases by
introducing strict localised lockdowns. To date five districts in the country —
Kwekwe, Karoi, Kariba, Makonde and Hurungwe — have had localised lockdowns
effected to contain the pandemic, while Masvingo and Chiredzi have been
identified as Covid-19 hotspots. In Bulawayo, Nkulumane, Emakhandeni and the
city’s northern suburbs have been identified as hotspots.
Commenting on the rise of cases, Minister of Local
Government and Public Works, Cde July Moyo, who is the Cabinet Minister
overseeing the Bulawayo provincial Covid-19 taskforce said it was highly
possible that more districts and locations could see localised strict lockdowns
being put in place. He said the Government’s major concern was to prevent the
pandemic from spreading in the country as the third wave was thus far proving to
be deadly.
“As you know we already have a national lockdown but, in
some districts, we implemented a stricter localised one so as to curb the
spread in these districts. However, as more and more districts have rising
figures, we will certainly be forced to have more of these localised lockdowns.
Our plea is that people adhere to these measures because all that we are
working at is ensuring that we protect them from this third wave which is
proving to be deadlier,” said Cde Moyo.
Questioned on the likelihood of Bulawayo going on localised
lockdown, the minister said they will wait for guidance from health officials
in the city for a decision to be reached.
“I wouldn’t proclaim right now that we will be declaring a
strict lockdown here but we will continue getting guidance from the Ministry of
Health and Child Care, if they feel there is a need for stricter lockdown
measures in the city, we will certainly take that route,” he said.
Last week, Bulawayo Health Services Director, Dr Edwin
Sibanda revealed that while a few suburbs had been identified in the city as
being Covid-19 hotspots, it was impossible that a localised lockdown be
implemented in those areas only. He said an ideal situation would be to have a
city-wide strict lockdown.
“There is that danger that the whole city could be placed
under a localised lockdown. It is almost impossible to have a localised
lockdown targeting a suburb because you can have someone living in an area that
has been classified as a hotspot but working in the city centre. So, it won’t
be feasible to have a lockdown targeting a suburb,” he said.
Dr Sibanda said to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases
members of the public should adhere to prevention measures which include social
distancing, regular hand sanitisation, proper wearing of masks and they should
be vaccinated.
Vice-President and Health and Child Care Minister Dr
Constantino Chiwenga announced new lockdown regulations which came into effect
on Monday last week. Under the new regulations, all gatherings except funerals
are banned.
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