Villagers from Mhondoro Mubaira reportedly fled from their homesteads as COVID-19 response teams approached their homes, to try and take samples from them as they might have been in contact with Mbuya Nguni who succumbed to the disease last week, journalist Brezh Malaba claims.
Malaba’s tweeted:
Covid-19 arrives in rural Zimbabwe.The invisible enemy has disrupted life in the idyllic villages of Mhondoro-Mubaira. Response teams were deployed on Sunday & again 2day. It’s a public health emergency,a huge task.More than 300 villagers had to be tested without delay
The rural setting is affected by several factors:a relatively high number of elderly folk; lack of health facilities; illiteracy; water & sanitation challenges. More importantly, the same sense of communal amity which unites villagers can suddenly become their greatest weakness.
Samples have been collected in these 2 days & the results are expected in 3 days.But there are more challenges ahead:nobody is explaining to me what will be done about those 2 clinics & Chegutu Hospital where the part-time nurse who tested positive continued reporting for duty.
Covid-19 arrives in rural Zimbabwe. There were moments of pandemonium in rural Mhondoro-Mubaira yesterday & today when panic-stricken villagers sprinted off as soon as the response teams approached their homesteads. Awareness campaigns are needed in rural communities.
Source: Twitter
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