16 March 2020
HONOURABLE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE UPDATE ON COVID-19 SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE
Good afternoon Ladies/GentlementZimbabwe has not yet reported any confirmed cases of Covid-19. The Ministry has responded to 7 suspected cases which all tested negative. Yesterday 15 March 2020, the Ministry received a report of a suspected case in Bulawayo.
This suspected case involves a female traveller who travelled from South Africa to Zimbabwe on Tuesday the 9th of March 2020.
This traveller had sort medical attention for other reasons from a General Practitioner in South Africa the previous day before she had travelled to Zimbabwe.
She later received a call from South Africa informing her that her doctor had been put on self-quarantine after one of the patients the doctor attended to had tested positive for Covid-19.
This patient is now under self-quarantine together with those she stays with. Today the 16th of March 2020, we received a report that a tourist who came to Victoria Falls on the 7th of March 2020 and departed on the 10th of March 2020 back to the United Kingdom has been found positive for Covid-19 and is currently being treated in the UK.
The Ministry of Health team is investigating the people who have been in close contact with this traveller. Again today the 16th of March 2020, 2 travellers who entered the country through RG Mugabe International Airport have been detected by port health officials after the thermos-scanners picked them with high temperature.
One came from Shanghai, China aboard Ethiopian Airlines and the other from London aboard Kenyan Airlines. These 2 have been isolated at Wilkins and are awaiting results.
As we intensify Covid-19 preparedness and response interventions, taking into consideration that there are increasing cases in the region in particular in South Africa knowing the huge flow of travellers to and fro South Africa, the Ministry of Health recommends:
- As we go into the Easter festivities knowing the huge gatherings that come with it, all gatherings of people such as church meetings, weddings, conferences and others are hereby being discouraged
- Non-essential travels to countries having local transmission are hereby discouraged
- All public institutions/buildings such as offices, supermarkets and banks should have hand sanitizers at all times
- People are advised to seek authentic information from the Ministry of Health and Child Care facilities and also on the official Ministry of Health, WHO and Unicef websites.
To reduce the risk of infection with the Covid-19 it is important to:
- Avoid close contact with anyone with a cold or flu-like symptoms
- Cover the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing with tissue paper or flexed elbow Wash hands with soap under running water after sneezing or coughing, when caring for the sick, after toilet use, before eating food, before, during and after preparing food, when hands are dirty and after handling animals or animal waste.
- Social distancing
The Ministry of Health and Child Care would like to discourage the public from circulating incorrect messages that cause unnecessary panic in the country.
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