Cases of COVID-19 as of yesterday went over a thousand mark and Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa blames the use of cross border vehicles for dragging back Zimbabwe’s effort in fighting the global pandemic.
Zimbabwe has recorded 19 deaths of the disease that has 1034 infections.
Mutsvangwa in a media brief yesterday said, ” My fellow Zimbabweans, COVID19 is real and let us not engage in actions that put us at a greater risk of infection. The use of cross border vehicles as a means of transportation is taking the nation back in its fight against the pandemic.”
“Enforcement has been intensified to penalize truck drivers and unauthorized passengers who are failing to adhere to regulations imposed under Statutory Instrument 93 of 2020 that regulates restricted goods and cross border vehicles transiting through Zimbabwe.”
Subcommittees offered reports to the Ad Hoc Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on COVID19 which met at a time when Zimbabwe recorded 328 recovered cases.
According to the Health Strategy and Infrastructure subcommittee revealed that 13 foreign-trained Zimbabwean doctors and members had been appointed and assumed duty starting from yesterday.
On the logistics subcommittee, the task force was informed that anAir Zimbabwe flight which is expected to repatriate Zimbabweans from Guangzhou and Wuhan Provinces in China developed a technical problem and is in Bangkok. A replacement engine has been airlifted to Thailand today.
A total of 11 889 returnees have been processed through quarantine facilities in Zimbabwe.
Food and Water sustainability subcommittee update revealed that 29 adults from the Harare province are being housed in halfway homes, with seven of them yet to be reunified with families. Thirteen adults in the Midlands are being housed in the Midland Province and their families are being traced. Six children in Manicaland province are also being housed with families being traced also.