Zanu PF finally promise to test and track aggressively - sadly, all half-heartedly and too late W Mukori

At long last, this Zanu PF government is finally going to carry out aggressive testing and tracking for corona virus. Information Secretary Ndabaningi Nick Mangwana has released a comprehensive list of people who will now tracked and tested.  

Here is the list:

-All travelers into the country will be rapidly tested on arrival and PCR on before discharge from quarantine facilities

-People with influenza like symptoms

-All contacts of confirmed cases

-All patients with fever symptoms in health facilities

-All frontline healthcare workers

-Community deaths in areas where there is local transmission

-All the community around a cluster of cases

-All above 60s admitted with a chronic condition

-Those working during lockdown who were interfacing with the community including those in law enforcement, service providers and employees of retail businesses including petrol attendants

This is going to be a mammoth task and government has decentralised the testing to each of the country’s ten provinces (did not say how many test centres, mobile or fixed, etc. there will be for each province).

Some people have applauded government for this but here are three reasons why we should not join the bandwagon:

1)   To test all the frontline workers listed above from health care staff, Police and Army officers enforcing the lockdown down to the petrol attendant, a total of 300 000 say. It will take 100 days testing 3 000 a day. To meet the nationwide demand testing everybody as per list above will require doing 30 000 tests a day. So far the country has only done 30 test or so a day. This is a regime renowned for its grandstanding and posturing; remember “Zimbabwe is open for business!”, the promise to hold free and fair elections, etc. This is just another one of this regime empty promises!

2)   As far as one can see government has yet to provide Person Protection Equipment (PPE) to all the frontline workers. Testing without providing PPE to frontline workers will be an exercise in futility.

3)   There is nothing to show government it stepping up the aggressive isolation. Aggressive testing and tracking will only work if there is aggressive isolation too. It is pointless asking people living with or more others in a two-roomed house to self-isolate. And in the case where the breadwinner is going into self-isolation government must take care of his/her dependents.

Some people will argue that we should applaud the government for at least making a start on increasing the number of tests, after all Zimbabwe does not have the resources to South Korea to do 60 000 tests a day, provide every frontline worker with the PPE. True, but the point here is that Zimbabwe has not used her limited resources wisely!

Mnangagwa should have used the US$4.5 million splashed on POLAD’s anti-sanction activities, for example, to buy corona virus test kits and PPE for immigration officers and instituted an aggressive test, track and isolate programme at all ports of entry. Commandeered all boarding schools, if necessary, to use as quarantine centres for all new arrivals and suspected cases. A modest 300 tests a day would have given the country had a chance of containing the spread of the virus.

Now we are spending even more money on the 3 000 tests a day and buying PPE to a fraction of frontline workers and yet know it is but a drop to the bucketful required to need the need.

Timing is everything, for months this government has ignored the advice to adopt an aggressive test, track and isolate course of action. Doing so now when it is too late and half-heartedly will make no difference to the tragic reality unfolding before us – corona virus is bringing heart-breaking human suffering and deaths. What makes the situation even worse so much of the suffering and deaths could have been easily avoided by acting timeously!