Former Zimbabwe Deputy Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Godfrey Gandawa has bemoaned Zimbabwe’s limited capabilities in testing suspects for coronavirus, saying the virus may already be here but undetected.
This comes after United Kingdom and German citizens tested positive for the virus soon after passing through Zimbabwe.
Posting on Twitter, Gandawa said:
A woman who’d been cleared #COVID19 negative in Zimbabwe later tested positive after she arrived in the UK. A German citizen tested positive in Namibia having just travelled from Zimbabwe. Both may have infected those they were in contact within Zimbabwe.
Our limited testing capabilities mean we’ve been unable to roll out an aggressive testing campaign as in South Korea where 15,000 can be tested daily. The virus might already be here, only undetected. We must take drastic action even at the risk of arousing public panic.
Waiting on govt would be irresponsible. The people must lead and take urgent steps to limit transmission. A friend’s 75-year-old father had four teeth removed over the weekend, he hasn’t visited for fear of infecting him. We need a similar consciousness.
Given our creaking health system, we need to go above and beyond in taking precautionary measures, primarily through aggressive social distancing and good hygiene. Schools that can close immediately should do so, those who can work from home must do the same.
That is very true Dr Gandawa